Hell’s Kitchen, a new reality television program on Fox, aims to deliver a potent combination of The Restaurant and The Apprentice to heat up those summertime TV doldrums.
However, the result is a contrived platter of over-scripted nonsense: cold and clammy to the touch.
We’re told early on that “celebrity chef” Gordon Ramsay is a culinary God among mortals. He’s got a bunch of restaurants and awards in the UK, and now he’s set to take America by storm. This setup of On High greatness, we quickly learn, gives Ramsay the authority to berate his underlings as though he were a drill sergeant browbeating his half-wit recruits.
The premise of the show is that a bunch of “unknown” chefs with varying levels of experience will compete for a shot at running a restaurant. Ramsay and crew, of course, will oversee the operation and put the contestants through the ordinary reality show paces.
Hell’s Kitchen, a restaurant in Hollywood, is the setting for most of the action. Two full kitchens in the restaurant allow two teams (Red and Blue) to operate simultaneously. Therefore, the first episode featured a competition to see who could serve the customers best.
However, before that segment transpired, things were already getting silly. During the first “tension-filled” sequence (with creepy music and hushed voiceovers to aid the action) each contestant cooked their “signature dish.” Ramsay then sampled the results, and took the opportunity to express profound disgust at every turn, insulting most of the dishes – as well as the intelligence of the audience – with references to dog droppings, cow colon, and a slew of cussing caught under the merciful bleep.
I got the impression that a Fox executive, salivating over the prospect of a Simon Cowell derivative added to the network, green lighted this project in the hope of bringing the next American Idol (with your host, the Food Nazi) to life.
As Team Red and Team Blue faced off, it was obvious that the show was a thinly veiled excuse to watch Ramsay tee off on anyone who looked at him wrong. Or, say, cooked. Or breathed. You get the idea.
Customers even caught the brunt of it. During the first team challenge – a hastily opened Hell’s Kitchen that caused both teams to scramble (and stumble) into action – several women walked into the kitchen area to complain about how long they were had been waiting for their meals. Cowell, er, Ramsay sent them away with shouts of “bimbo” and “go back to your plastic surgeon.”
Nice. And professional.
However, the set-up of the newly-opened restaurant was what really set my reality TV red flags aflutter. It was entirely obvious that the guests of Hell’s Kitchen were not ordinary paying customers. Either they’re paid actors, extras, or heavily coached people off the street. The fact that the audience isn’t let in on the true nature of the production is a major strike against an already banal, refried production.
What’s more, the contestants themselves came off as dopey, sleepy, or generally uninteresting. Not a good foundation from which human drama may build.
DB Upshot: I’d rather eat paste than sit through another episode of Hell’s Kitchen.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Monday, May 30, 2005
Just back from San Antonio
Hey kids,
I've been out-of-town and offline for a good little while on some family biz-ness in old San Antonio. Had a relaxing time at a family reunion of sorts. Walked around the Alamo (was actually my third time there), drank beer and margaritas along the beautiful River Walk, and ate some of the best home-cooked brisket it is possible for one to enjoy.
Now I'm back in Southern Cali, refreshed, and ready for more Dumpster Busting action.
So, in short: sorry for the brief delay in Madness, and fully expect more on the short and quick.
I've been out-of-town and offline for a good little while on some family biz-ness in old San Antonio. Had a relaxing time at a family reunion of sorts. Walked around the Alamo (was actually my third time there), drank beer and margaritas along the beautiful River Walk, and ate some of the best home-cooked brisket it is possible for one to enjoy.
Now I'm back in Southern Cali, refreshed, and ready for more Dumpster Busting action.
So, in short: sorry for the brief delay in Madness, and fully expect more on the short and quick.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Dumpster Bust Radio: Podcast #8
It’s been a while but we’re back in style:
Dumpster Bust Radio: Podcast #8
Burnout and a hot spring’s cold (the most fun kind of cold you can have) kept me away for a little while, but the lure of the pod brought me back home, back to the bowels of my apartment building for some late-night podcasting action.
This week, I ruminate about the meaning of existence, and then awkwardly segue into the first part of an interview with Salon.com’s advice columnist, Cary Tennis.
Check out the first part of the print interview with the super cool Mr. Tennis below.
DB Radio #8 Presents
Introduction
Hear ye: hear me ramble on about how I’m trying to reconcile being a podcaster and a writer and a solitary human being all at once. Oh, woe is me-o.
DB Film Squad: What the Bleep Do We Know? and I Heart Huckabees
I defy you to see both of these films and then not kick it philosopher stylin’ for a little while.
Featured Song #1
“Naughty Little Girl” – Matthew Long
This Beatles-esque number is one of the best songs I’ve heard in a long time.
Interview: Cary Tennis, Advice Columnist for Salon.com
In this first part of our interview, we delve into what it’s like to be an advice columnist, the quirks and mechanics of the American Psyche, and how to ascend Mt. Olympus when necessary… well, apparently it’s not that necessary.
Featured Song #2
“It’s a Fugazi” – The Speelmens
Track Listing for Dumpster Bust Radio #8
Dumpster Bust Radio runs podsafe music in the background whilst I yabber. Along with the Featured Songs, the idea is to promote awesome indie music and emerging artists and also to give everyone a break from my tortured vocal yelping every now and again.
Track #1 (Show Intro) “Black Star” – Apash
#2 “Long Ago” – Century Mythos
#3 (Featured Song) “Naughty Little Girl – Matthew Long
#4 “Oblivion” – Ken Argon
#5 (Featured Song) “It’s a Fugazi” – The Speelmens
#6 (Show Outro) “Blue Bird Tattoo” – Circe Link
Subscribe to DB Radio!
Our site feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DumpsterBust
To download the free software needed to subscribe to podcasts, click here.
Of course, you can just click the link at the top of this page and listen away! The power is Yours. This I command.
Support DB Radio!
If you like the show or are merely a kindly soul, go to Podcast Alley and vote for DB Radio! If you're not a member, simply submit your vote, and then click a link on a subsequent e-mail to verify. It's almost really really easy!
Dumpster Bust Radio: Podcast #8
Burnout and a hot spring’s cold (the most fun kind of cold you can have) kept me away for a little while, but the lure of the pod brought me back home, back to the bowels of my apartment building for some late-night podcasting action.
This week, I ruminate about the meaning of existence, and then awkwardly segue into the first part of an interview with Salon.com’s advice columnist, Cary Tennis.
Check out the first part of the print interview with the super cool Mr. Tennis below.
DB Radio #8 Presents
Introduction
Hear ye: hear me ramble on about how I’m trying to reconcile being a podcaster and a writer and a solitary human being all at once. Oh, woe is me-o.
DB Film Squad: What the Bleep Do We Know? and I Heart Huckabees
I defy you to see both of these films and then not kick it philosopher stylin’ for a little while.
Featured Song #1
“Naughty Little Girl” – Matthew Long
This Beatles-esque number is one of the best songs I’ve heard in a long time.
Interview: Cary Tennis, Advice Columnist for Salon.com
In this first part of our interview, we delve into what it’s like to be an advice columnist, the quirks and mechanics of the American Psyche, and how to ascend Mt. Olympus when necessary… well, apparently it’s not that necessary.
Featured Song #2
“It’s a Fugazi” – The Speelmens
Track Listing for Dumpster Bust Radio #8
Dumpster Bust Radio runs podsafe music in the background whilst I yabber. Along with the Featured Songs, the idea is to promote awesome indie music and emerging artists and also to give everyone a break from my tortured vocal yelping every now and again.
Track #1 (Show Intro) “Black Star” – Apash
#2 “Long Ago” – Century Mythos
#3 (Featured Song) “Naughty Little Girl – Matthew Long
#4 “Oblivion” – Ken Argon
#5 (Featured Song) “It’s a Fugazi” – The Speelmens
#6 (Show Outro) “Blue Bird Tattoo” – Circe Link
Subscribe to DB Radio!
Our site feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DumpsterBust
To download the free software needed to subscribe to podcasts, click here.
Of course, you can just click the link at the top of this page and listen away! The power is Yours. This I command.
Support DB Radio!
If you like the show or are merely a kindly soul, go to Podcast Alley and vote for DB Radio! If you're not a member, simply submit your vote, and then click a link on a subsequent e-mail to verify. It's almost really really easy!
Interview: Cary Tennis, Salon.com Advice Columnist – Part I
Cary Tennis is Salon.com’s resident advice columnist. Since You Asked… is a bastion for those looking for an open ear, a story or aside that isn’t afraid to drop in a literary or poetic allusion or two, and advice that doesn’t issue edicts from On High (or Mt. Olympus, as Cary himself would say) but seeks to roll back the dense fog of confusion that surrounds troubled minds.
Check out a recent edition of Since You Asked… here.
What follows is the first part of our conversation. Look for more soon.
<<<<<>>>>>
Eric Berlin: Can you describe what Since You Asked… is all about?
Cary Tennis: It’s an advice column. It started when Garrison Keiler was writing a column for Salon in the books section. And he had to resign, so we were looking for a replacement and it was right around the time of 9/11. I had been a copy editor at Salon, and I had read all of Garrison Keiler’s columns, and I thought that what he was doing was really great and I had a sort of feel for the voice.
It was the first time I had seen someone take a literary approach to an advice column. After weeks and weeks, they hadn’t found anybody. I said, “Why don’t you give me the sample questions and let me take a shot?”
So they liked it, and they offered me the job.
In general, as you took on the job, what’s your chief aim when give people advice?
My chief aim is to connect with the person. I think what makes that work is my experience in Alcoholics Anonymous. That’s where the voice comes from of just being able to hear somebody’s predicament to listen, to respond without coming down from, like, Mt. Olympus. To respond as another person.
That’s where I think I get the permission to just respond. I don’t feel responsible – I know the limits of my power. And so I feel free to just respond in a real emotional and empathic way, or a poetic way.
What do you think is so appealing to the reader in reading about other people’s loves and loss and struggles?
I don’t think we talk to each other very honestly, very much in our society. Something I find in the recovery movement is that you hear people pour out these tales. At first, it’s kind of shocking because there’s a lot of suffering and a lot of pain. But once you get used to it, it’s just a variety of human experiences.
And I think what you get in the column is these real intimate, vivid glimpses of what people are really like. And we just don’t get that very much in day-to-day life.
You’ve been talking recently in your column about bringing more honesty and more bluntness back into American dialogue. Is that a direction that you see yourself going in?
I hope so. I found myself wavering between kind of a radical kindness and acceptance and a desire to say that what someone is saying is really crazy, or that we should just tell people, “You’re really fucked up!”
I think you can err in both directions, thinking that your opinion really matters all that much.
Do you think there’s some kind of breakdown in American society going on – in the family perhaps – or has this stuff been going on all along and we’re just more out in the open about it now?
[In mock booming voice] Well, I don’t know, Eric! [laughs]
Can you go up on Mt. Olympus for me?
I see some trends, but I’m not big on seeing trends. I’m real big on the individual one-to-one connection. And so my answers vary. If I get a feeling that someone needs a firm statement, I’ll just get a feeling and I’ll sort of go that way. For other people, they just need someone to listen to them and validate them.
Have you ever formed any kind of relationship that extended beyond the question that was originally submitted?
Correspondence does develop that persists, and some people I’ve become sort of friends with. They’ll write and I’ll write back, or I’ll hear about them.
People frequently write back and say, “I appreciate what you said.” People also write questions to me, and I’ll respond directly to them. But people also write to me about questions I answer for other people and say, “That helped me out a lot – I was in a similar situation.”
What’s the weirdest question that you’ve ever been asked?
Oh man, I’ve gotten some doozies lately! One was a woman who has been going out with a guy for five years, and she still didn’t know where he lived. She said she’d never really been to his house – that one really stirred people up.
There was a guy whose girlfriend wanted him to show his penis to her daughter so she’d know what one looked like.
I remember that one. That one stayed with me for quite some time.
That’s the kind of one that will stick with you!
Have you ever had a question where you answered it, and based upon the advice that you gave or didn’t give, it gave you trouble sleeping at night or troubled you for a while afterward?
Yeah, questions trouble me. People who are suicidal or who are in deep emotional pain. They tend to stick with me. Some people are in very dark situations – people who have been abused. They do stick with me, and I lie awake and I think about these people.
Generally, what happens is that the more I think about a person, they tend to become real to me. And I begin to feel love for them. A lot of times it’s a very positive experience.
How do you go about choosing the questions that you’ll answer, and do you think about creating a balance between helping people and thinking about a readership who is on one level entertained, and on another level informed?
That’s a really good question, Eric. There are questions that are entertaining – sometimes I think if a question isn’t entertaining enough, it might not run. And I wonder if people are making their questions entertaining enough so that it’ll run.
They’re trying to sell you.
Yeah. I’m a journalist, and it’s part of an entertainment medium.
I just feel that everyone’s problems are important to them. So it’s kind of unfortunate if your problem was similar to one that was dealt with last month or if it’s a very common problem, I’m tired of saying the same thing.
Walk me through your production schedule, if you will. How does each column come into being?
The way it works now is that once or twice a week, I’ll gather up all the letters that have questions in them. And it’ll come out to 18,000 to 20,000 words that I go through and clean up. Then there’s sort of a drafting phase. I’ll go through them and look for something that clicks. And if I find myself writing, I know that’s a live one. And if I find myself confused and not getting anywhere, sometimes I’ll just pass over those. The ones that are really sensational or intriguing, I move to the top.
I've always wondered about how much editing went into the actual submission process, and how much cleaning up goes on to make it publishable.
Grammar, spelling, punctuation, some shortening. That’s another criterion: if a letter’s super long, it’s a lot of work to shorten it.
Another thing I’ve always wondered about with advice columns in general: do people tend to make up their own cute little nickname, or does an editor do that? How does that work?
A lot of people do. [laughs] They’ll say, “Sign me, ‘Lonely in Texas,’” or whatever. But if they don’t, I make it up. It’s kind of dumb – it really is. But you’ve got to have something, and it’s got to be anonymous.
Check out a recent edition of Since You Asked… here.
What follows is the first part of our conversation. Look for more soon.
<<<<<>>>>>
Eric Berlin: Can you describe what Since You Asked… is all about?
Cary Tennis: It’s an advice column. It started when Garrison Keiler was writing a column for Salon in the books section. And he had to resign, so we were looking for a replacement and it was right around the time of 9/11. I had been a copy editor at Salon, and I had read all of Garrison Keiler’s columns, and I thought that what he was doing was really great and I had a sort of feel for the voice.
It was the first time I had seen someone take a literary approach to an advice column. After weeks and weeks, they hadn’t found anybody. I said, “Why don’t you give me the sample questions and let me take a shot?”
So they liked it, and they offered me the job.
In general, as you took on the job, what’s your chief aim when give people advice?
My chief aim is to connect with the person. I think what makes that work is my experience in Alcoholics Anonymous. That’s where the voice comes from of just being able to hear somebody’s predicament to listen, to respond without coming down from, like, Mt. Olympus. To respond as another person.
That’s where I think I get the permission to just respond. I don’t feel responsible – I know the limits of my power. And so I feel free to just respond in a real emotional and empathic way, or a poetic way.
What do you think is so appealing to the reader in reading about other people’s loves and loss and struggles?
I don’t think we talk to each other very honestly, very much in our society. Something I find in the recovery movement is that you hear people pour out these tales. At first, it’s kind of shocking because there’s a lot of suffering and a lot of pain. But once you get used to it, it’s just a variety of human experiences.
And I think what you get in the column is these real intimate, vivid glimpses of what people are really like. And we just don’t get that very much in day-to-day life.
You’ve been talking recently in your column about bringing more honesty and more bluntness back into American dialogue. Is that a direction that you see yourself going in?
I hope so. I found myself wavering between kind of a radical kindness and acceptance and a desire to say that what someone is saying is really crazy, or that we should just tell people, “You’re really fucked up!”
I think you can err in both directions, thinking that your opinion really matters all that much.
Do you think there’s some kind of breakdown in American society going on – in the family perhaps – or has this stuff been going on all along and we’re just more out in the open about it now?
[In mock booming voice] Well, I don’t know, Eric! [laughs]
Can you go up on Mt. Olympus for me?
I see some trends, but I’m not big on seeing trends. I’m real big on the individual one-to-one connection. And so my answers vary. If I get a feeling that someone needs a firm statement, I’ll just get a feeling and I’ll sort of go that way. For other people, they just need someone to listen to them and validate them.
Have you ever formed any kind of relationship that extended beyond the question that was originally submitted?
Correspondence does develop that persists, and some people I’ve become sort of friends with. They’ll write and I’ll write back, or I’ll hear about them.
People frequently write back and say, “I appreciate what you said.” People also write questions to me, and I’ll respond directly to them. But people also write to me about questions I answer for other people and say, “That helped me out a lot – I was in a similar situation.”
What’s the weirdest question that you’ve ever been asked?
Oh man, I’ve gotten some doozies lately! One was a woman who has been going out with a guy for five years, and she still didn’t know where he lived. She said she’d never really been to his house – that one really stirred people up.
There was a guy whose girlfriend wanted him to show his penis to her daughter so she’d know what one looked like.
I remember that one. That one stayed with me for quite some time.
That’s the kind of one that will stick with you!
Have you ever had a question where you answered it, and based upon the advice that you gave or didn’t give, it gave you trouble sleeping at night or troubled you for a while afterward?
Yeah, questions trouble me. People who are suicidal or who are in deep emotional pain. They tend to stick with me. Some people are in very dark situations – people who have been abused. They do stick with me, and I lie awake and I think about these people.
Generally, what happens is that the more I think about a person, they tend to become real to me. And I begin to feel love for them. A lot of times it’s a very positive experience.
How do you go about choosing the questions that you’ll answer, and do you think about creating a balance between helping people and thinking about a readership who is on one level entertained, and on another level informed?
That’s a really good question, Eric. There are questions that are entertaining – sometimes I think if a question isn’t entertaining enough, it might not run. And I wonder if people are making their questions entertaining enough so that it’ll run.
They’re trying to sell you.
Yeah. I’m a journalist, and it’s part of an entertainment medium.
I just feel that everyone’s problems are important to them. So it’s kind of unfortunate if your problem was similar to one that was dealt with last month or if it’s a very common problem, I’m tired of saying the same thing.
Walk me through your production schedule, if you will. How does each column come into being?
The way it works now is that once or twice a week, I’ll gather up all the letters that have questions in them. And it’ll come out to 18,000 to 20,000 words that I go through and clean up. Then there’s sort of a drafting phase. I’ll go through them and look for something that clicks. And if I find myself writing, I know that’s a live one. And if I find myself confused and not getting anywhere, sometimes I’ll just pass over those. The ones that are really sensational or intriguing, I move to the top.
I've always wondered about how much editing went into the actual submission process, and how much cleaning up goes on to make it publishable.
Grammar, spelling, punctuation, some shortening. That’s another criterion: if a letter’s super long, it’s a lot of work to shorten it.
Another thing I’ve always wondered about with advice columns in general: do people tend to make up their own cute little nickname, or does an editor do that? How does that work?
A lot of people do. [laughs] They’ll say, “Sign me, ‘Lonely in Texas,’” or whatever. But if they don’t, I make it up. It’s kind of dumb – it really is. But you’ve got to have something, and it’s got to be anonymous.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Deal Struck on Filibusters, Senator Announces
It looks as though an 11th Hour deal will avert the dreaded “nuclear option” in the Senate, which could have had adverse and unpredictable ramifications for years to come.
Reuters reports:
A group of 12 Senators – moderates from both sides of the aisle – have been working feverishly in recent days to strike a deal that the President and leading lawmakers from both political parties could not or would not make.
It remains to be seen what the details of the deal are, from the current judges under review in the Senate to the more important and dramatic confirmation battles over Supreme Court nominees that are likely to come this summer.
But most of all, this deal will likely preserve the long-standing tradition of the filibuster in some form and maintain the historic protection of minority rights that dates back more than 200 years.
Perhaps this deal will mark a new day for moderation and compromise in American politics.
Stranger things have happened.
Reuters reports:
A group of U.S. Senate moderates struck a deal on Monday intended to avert a showdown over President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, a member of the bipartisan group of negotiators said.
"We've got a deal," Nebraska Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson told reporters. Senators plan to announce details at a news conference shortly.
A group of 12 Senators – moderates from both sides of the aisle – have been working feverishly in recent days to strike a deal that the President and leading lawmakers from both political parties could not or would not make.
It remains to be seen what the details of the deal are, from the current judges under review in the Senate to the more important and dramatic confirmation battles over Supreme Court nominees that are likely to come this summer.
But most of all, this deal will likely preserve the long-standing tradition of the filibuster in some form and maintain the historic protection of minority rights that dates back more than 200 years.
Perhaps this deal will mark a new day for moderation and compromise in American politics.
Stranger things have happened.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
The Contender's Latin Snake Slithers, Hisses Into Finals
We’re getting close to the end. Two fighters now remain after an awfully good and tough bout between semi-finalists Jesse Brinkley and Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora.
Spending time with these fighters over the last few months, via the phenomenon of reality television, gives me an appreciation for the sport of boxing that I’ve never had before. Having a growing connection with each athlete also increases the emotional stakes each week. Sergio talks about buying a house for his family if he wins the $1 million prize, Peter Manfredo Jr. (who reached the finals already by defeating the tough, rugged Alfonso Gomez) talks about spending more time with his family. Jesse, who has always been a bit of a mystery, a bit of a wildcard, is more vague, though he gives the appearance of someone who just can’t stomach the thought of losing.
While I know full well that my emotions are being set up by the music, the lighting, and the reality-savvy editing, I can’t help but be swept away by these dreams of greatness. In the end, I don’t care about the set-up because these fighters represent the American Dream: fighting for something better against obstacles both physical and mental, as well as the unfair realities that life often brings.
But to see hard work, talent, and that intangible quality known as heart succeed is to bring hope that you can succeed in life by throwing your all against some greater goal, some greater good.
This week, Sergio Mora used his slithery and elusive tactics to defeat a talented, tough, and resilient fighter in Jesse Brinkley. Because Brinkley had fought recently against Anthony Bonsante, I believe he was not at his best and therefore did not put up his best possible showing in the seven-round match against Mora. Nonetheless it was a good fight, but not up to the magnificent standards we’ve seen over the past several weeks.
Mora versus Manfredo in the finals is everything we could have asked for. Both fighters exude heart, toughness, class, and determination. Mora is a charismatic guy from the mean streets of East LA. He’s a thinking man’s fighter, a reader of philosophy and a believer in outthinking the opposition to win. He has even professed his desire to become a full-time writer (to prove that the pen is truly mightier than the glove, perhaps?).
My heart is with Manfredo, however. Although I now live outside of LA, I’m an East Coast guy at heart. And Manfredo, from Rhode Island with a New England accent to match, screams East Coast and heart all at once. After losing to Gomez in the first week of the competition, he was voted back in after another fighter was disqualified. His comeback trail culminated in his rematch victory over Gomez, a triumph of skill and fortitude and boxing savvy.
The finals are going to be a sight to behold. I honestly don’t know who will win, but I’ll be there with my own personal weapon – my words – to take it all down. The final bout will be televised live on Tuesday night from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. I’ll be blogging along with the fight, and will have my thoughts and analysis published as soon after all is said and done as I can.
The Contender is a special show: a reality program about real professional athletes going after a dream. I hope NBC sees its value and returns it for next season.
Spending time with these fighters over the last few months, via the phenomenon of reality television, gives me an appreciation for the sport of boxing that I’ve never had before. Having a growing connection with each athlete also increases the emotional stakes each week. Sergio talks about buying a house for his family if he wins the $1 million prize, Peter Manfredo Jr. (who reached the finals already by defeating the tough, rugged Alfonso Gomez) talks about spending more time with his family. Jesse, who has always been a bit of a mystery, a bit of a wildcard, is more vague, though he gives the appearance of someone who just can’t stomach the thought of losing.
While I know full well that my emotions are being set up by the music, the lighting, and the reality-savvy editing, I can’t help but be swept away by these dreams of greatness. In the end, I don’t care about the set-up because these fighters represent the American Dream: fighting for something better against obstacles both physical and mental, as well as the unfair realities that life often brings.
But to see hard work, talent, and that intangible quality known as heart succeed is to bring hope that you can succeed in life by throwing your all against some greater goal, some greater good.
This week, Sergio Mora used his slithery and elusive tactics to defeat a talented, tough, and resilient fighter in Jesse Brinkley. Because Brinkley had fought recently against Anthony Bonsante, I believe he was not at his best and therefore did not put up his best possible showing in the seven-round match against Mora. Nonetheless it was a good fight, but not up to the magnificent standards we’ve seen over the past several weeks.
Mora versus Manfredo in the finals is everything we could have asked for. Both fighters exude heart, toughness, class, and determination. Mora is a charismatic guy from the mean streets of East LA. He’s a thinking man’s fighter, a reader of philosophy and a believer in outthinking the opposition to win. He has even professed his desire to become a full-time writer (to prove that the pen is truly mightier than the glove, perhaps?).
My heart is with Manfredo, however. Although I now live outside of LA, I’m an East Coast guy at heart. And Manfredo, from Rhode Island with a New England accent to match, screams East Coast and heart all at once. After losing to Gomez in the first week of the competition, he was voted back in after another fighter was disqualified. His comeback trail culminated in his rematch victory over Gomez, a triumph of skill and fortitude and boxing savvy.
The finals are going to be a sight to behold. I honestly don’t know who will win, but I’ll be there with my own personal weapon – my words – to take it all down. The final bout will be televised live on Tuesday night from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. I’ll be blogging along with the fight, and will have my thoughts and analysis published as soon after all is said and done as I can.
The Contender is a special show: a reality program about real professional athletes going after a dream. I hope NBC sees its value and returns it for next season.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Smashes All-Time First Day Record at Box Office
No matter what people say about it, George Lucas is undoubtedly a happy man this evening.
According to MarketWatch:
With an opening like this, with the generally favorable reviews, with the number of people who are likely waiting a day or two to avoid the manic Star Wars-induced rush (myself included), Episode III looks poised to do some major Revenge at the box office.
This is a moment to begin considering how powerful a force (pun unintended) Star Wars really has on American and worldwide popular culture. To think how widely Episode I (The Phantom Menace) was derided, how poorly and viscerally new characters deemed unworthy (Jar Jar Binks) were treated by fans and critics alike, it’s a wonder that we’re witnessing the tying together of the two epic trilogies to such fanfare and enthusiasm.
And we can also begin to wonder how new generations of Star Wars fans will take in the now six completed films: will they watch 4-6 and then come back around to 1-3 like most people have and are doing at present? If they begin at Phantom Menace and go straight through to Return of the Jedi, will it flow and resonate as much as, say, the glorious whole of the Lord of the Rings trilogy?
And finally: will the sprinkling of rumors over the years ever bear fruit? Will there ever be a third Star Wars trilogy, taking us out to nine films?
According to MarketWatch:
"Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" scored $50 million in first-day receipts at 3,661 theaters across the nation on Thursday, box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations said Friday. The take handily beats the one-day record of $44.8 million set last year by "Shrek 2."
With an opening like this, with the generally favorable reviews, with the number of people who are likely waiting a day or two to avoid the manic Star Wars-induced rush (myself included), Episode III looks poised to do some major Revenge at the box office.
This is a moment to begin considering how powerful a force (pun unintended) Star Wars really has on American and worldwide popular culture. To think how widely Episode I (The Phantom Menace) was derided, how poorly and viscerally new characters deemed unworthy (Jar Jar Binks) were treated by fans and critics alike, it’s a wonder that we’re witnessing the tying together of the two epic trilogies to such fanfare and enthusiasm.
And we can also begin to wonder how new generations of Star Wars fans will take in the now six completed films: will they watch 4-6 and then come back around to 1-3 like most people have and are doing at present? If they begin at Phantom Menace and go straight through to Return of the Jedi, will it flow and resonate as much as, say, the glorious whole of the Lord of the Rings trilogy?
And finally: will the sprinkling of rumors over the years ever bear fruit? Will there ever be a third Star Wars trilogy, taking us out to nine films?
Cathode Ray Fray: The Week in TV – 5-20-05
The Ray is weak this week, I’m afraid to say. Shows are dropping off the radar left and right as other favorites go to sleep for summer’s hibernation or are perhaps sadly laid to rest forever more (let it not be true, my sweet sweet Project Greenlight).
Therefore, I give you a short and hopefully sweet C Ray Fray this week.
Obey the Ray… just take some time to enjoy the sunshine every now and again, kids.
Overall take on the week:
Best show on television: Lost by a wide margin now that Project Greenlight has sailed off to the Bygone Sea of Television Greatness
Upper-tier shows: The Shield, The Contender
Insulting my pride: The Apprentice (see below for details)
On the air, off the radar: Alias (Wife was apparently too disgruntled to make report this week)
<<<<<>>>>>
Sunday
The Contender - NBC
We’re coming near the end of this pugilistic competition, and I feel like I’ve come to know the fighters pretty well and have some kind of emotional stake (good or bad) with each of the final four. That’s a credit to the producers, who have shown us enough about these fighters and their lives to make us care. Of course, the cheese factor is nudged up beyond my liking from time-to-time, but overall I love this show and dearly hope that NBC brings it back despite its disappointing ratings.
This episode managed to produce a rematch between Alfonso Gomez and Peter Manfredo. At stake: winner heads to Las Vegas and a chance to fight for $1 million, loser heads home.
Good stuff.
I’ve come to admire and like each of the two fighters, which made it difficult to pick a guy to root for. However, as the seven-round match began (upping the ante from the five-round bouts from earlier fights) I had to admit to myself that Manfredo was my guy. He’s got an integrity to him and a New England charm (he and his family hail from Rhode Island) that lends him a quiet charisma.
That said, I thought going in that Gomez – a rugged bulldog of a fighter – had a slight edge over the less aggressive Manfredo.
It turned out to be a great fight, with wild swings in momentum that have become a staple of The Contender’s matches. Going into the seventh and final round, it was obvious that the match was tied up three rounds per fighter. Basically, it would come down to who wanted it more in the final three minutes. Manfredo “manned up,” as the saying goes, and proved a great deal to everyone watching, and to himself.
After being defeated by Gomez on the very first week of the show and then getting voted back in after an injury to another fighter, Manfredo completed his resurrection with a gritty, spirited victory. In the finals, he’ll face the winner of the Jesse Brinkley – Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora match.
The fight of the year will be on next Tuesday, a live telecast from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
You know I’ll be watching.
Super-cool Moment:
Gomez sporting a tee-shirt that read “Cut Me Mickey” while training.
Monday
American Idol - Fox
There is a mega-ton of American Idol talk this week, as always. I don’t subscribe to the madness myself, but check out the uber-post here.
Tuesday
The Shield - FX
Things are cranking along on another tightly paced, super-charged episode this week. Vendrell’s finally back in the quasi-good graces of Mackey & Co. after his heartfelt confession and offers of repentance last week. Now the gang can go about taking down Antwon Mitchell before Mitchell blows about half of Los Angeles to pieces. Another antagonist, Aceveda, is now working closely with Rawlings and crew as well after two cops turned up dead, shot execution style.
There’s a nice theme of Police as Family at work, with everyone coming together to take out the big baddies. Meanwhile, Vendrell and Mackey are trying to play Mitchell to make him think they will work for him while the rest of the Strike Team races around town to collect the body of the girl murdered with Vendrell’s gun.
The pieces are in place to have a satisfying end to this more than enjoyable season.
Nice acting job:
The schizophrenic homeless ex-Cal Tech genius guy was a wonderful role compacted into a small part. His demand for a badge so that he could discuss the case “Peace Officer to Peace Officer” was great.
Wednesday
Lost - ABC
Lost is a show of journeys, discovery, mystery, and myth. All of those themes came together wonderfully in yet another taut and well written episode this week.
The pacing is quickening each week and I feel as though I’m coming to the end of a great novel or a spectacular film. The fact that it’s the first season of a television show only increases my enjoyment as I’m confident there will be more to see, more to be revealed over time.
But it also brings the paradox of great dramas and great serialized stories: there’s got to be much more conflict, much more hardship ahead to keep me and the rest of the viewing audience interested.
There was a wonderful coalescing of the back stories as we were shown intermingled accounts of different characters within the same episode for the first time. Characters like Kate, Jack, and Walt are becoming all the more real, which makes seeing their pre-crash personalities wind their way toward the airport and their subsequent fates all the more strange and fascinating.
Meanwhile, events are coming to some kind of major head back on the island. The French woman is back – a little more sane, none the less creepy – with the warning that The Others are coming. Man, aren’t the vague, ominous warnings the scariest by far? The drug smugglers with the machine guns and helicopters are coming is just way less scary (or interesting) than The Others are coming: your three options are run, hide, or die. Throw in some black smoke that looks like the People of the Damned are having an old fashioned cook out, and you’ve basically got me glued to the sofa, eyes on screen.
You had me at The Others.
So while the French lady leads a group to find explosives at the Black Rock, our heroes discover a wrecked ship… at the top of a hill. It looks like some kind of pirate ship, so who knows what them thar adventures lie behind its hull. Or something.
And the raft has finally set sale with the fearless crew of Michael, Walt, Sawyer, and Jin. Among the touching moments: the rapprochement between Jin and Sun, and little Walt leaving Vincent the dog with a for once non-evil Shannon.
What will happen with the raft? What’s the deal with the hatch? Will The Others’ offensive be repelled?
Two-hour season finale next week, kids.
Get the dog walked, break out the TV survival kit, dampen the Noises of Madness from within, kick back and enjoy.
Thursday
The Apprentice - NBC
Kendra won. She’s the Apprentice.
Which is nice – I’m happy for her. She deserved it.
But the rest of the finale was simply awful and not a little bit insulting as well. The first part of the hour was yet another grueling recap of the entire season, something we’ve seen several times before to varying extents. We then entered the live set with the band and the crowd and all, which was fine. Trump then goaded the two finalists into attacking each other and defending themselves, which was also all well and good.
The ending of the show (and the season) was a travesty. Kendra was announced as the winner with the already classic cliché of “You’re hired.” Was she asked what she thought about winning this 16-week competition and going on to refurbish a mansion in Florida for Trump (a project that is strikingly below the caliber of the projects that past winners Bill and Kelley took on)? No. There is a cut to music while Kendra is literally shoved out the door so that she can get into her new Pontiac… in time for the Pontiac commercial.
Are you serious? I watched this show for months, wrote about it for months, talked about it on my podcast for months… so that I can watch a woman driving a car?
I’m insulted. I may not be on board for the next edition of The Apprentice.
I’ll be looking for my pride in the meantime. Maybe it’s in my car.
Check out The Apprentice uber-post here.
Therefore, I give you a short and hopefully sweet C Ray Fray this week.
Obey the Ray… just take some time to enjoy the sunshine every now and again, kids.
Overall take on the week:
Best show on television: Lost by a wide margin now that Project Greenlight has sailed off to the Bygone Sea of Television Greatness
Upper-tier shows: The Shield, The Contender
Insulting my pride: The Apprentice (see below for details)
On the air, off the radar: Alias (Wife was apparently too disgruntled to make report this week)
<<<<<>>>>>
Sunday
The Contender - NBC
We’re coming near the end of this pugilistic competition, and I feel like I’ve come to know the fighters pretty well and have some kind of emotional stake (good or bad) with each of the final four. That’s a credit to the producers, who have shown us enough about these fighters and their lives to make us care. Of course, the cheese factor is nudged up beyond my liking from time-to-time, but overall I love this show and dearly hope that NBC brings it back despite its disappointing ratings.
This episode managed to produce a rematch between Alfonso Gomez and Peter Manfredo. At stake: winner heads to Las Vegas and a chance to fight for $1 million, loser heads home.
Good stuff.
I’ve come to admire and like each of the two fighters, which made it difficult to pick a guy to root for. However, as the seven-round match began (upping the ante from the five-round bouts from earlier fights) I had to admit to myself that Manfredo was my guy. He’s got an integrity to him and a New England charm (he and his family hail from Rhode Island) that lends him a quiet charisma.
That said, I thought going in that Gomez – a rugged bulldog of a fighter – had a slight edge over the less aggressive Manfredo.
It turned out to be a great fight, with wild swings in momentum that have become a staple of The Contender’s matches. Going into the seventh and final round, it was obvious that the match was tied up three rounds per fighter. Basically, it would come down to who wanted it more in the final three minutes. Manfredo “manned up,” as the saying goes, and proved a great deal to everyone watching, and to himself.
After being defeated by Gomez on the very first week of the show and then getting voted back in after an injury to another fighter, Manfredo completed his resurrection with a gritty, spirited victory. In the finals, he’ll face the winner of the Jesse Brinkley – Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora match.
The fight of the year will be on next Tuesday, a live telecast from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
You know I’ll be watching.
Super-cool Moment:
Gomez sporting a tee-shirt that read “Cut Me Mickey” while training.
Monday
American Idol - Fox
There is a mega-ton of American Idol talk this week, as always. I don’t subscribe to the madness myself, but check out the uber-post here.
Tuesday
The Shield - FX
Things are cranking along on another tightly paced, super-charged episode this week. Vendrell’s finally back in the quasi-good graces of Mackey & Co. after his heartfelt confession and offers of repentance last week. Now the gang can go about taking down Antwon Mitchell before Mitchell blows about half of Los Angeles to pieces. Another antagonist, Aceveda, is now working closely with Rawlings and crew as well after two cops turned up dead, shot execution style.
There’s a nice theme of Police as Family at work, with everyone coming together to take out the big baddies. Meanwhile, Vendrell and Mackey are trying to play Mitchell to make him think they will work for him while the rest of the Strike Team races around town to collect the body of the girl murdered with Vendrell’s gun.
The pieces are in place to have a satisfying end to this more than enjoyable season.
Nice acting job:
The schizophrenic homeless ex-Cal Tech genius guy was a wonderful role compacted into a small part. His demand for a badge so that he could discuss the case “Peace Officer to Peace Officer” was great.
Wednesday
Lost - ABC
Lost is a show of journeys, discovery, mystery, and myth. All of those themes came together wonderfully in yet another taut and well written episode this week.
The pacing is quickening each week and I feel as though I’m coming to the end of a great novel or a spectacular film. The fact that it’s the first season of a television show only increases my enjoyment as I’m confident there will be more to see, more to be revealed over time.
But it also brings the paradox of great dramas and great serialized stories: there’s got to be much more conflict, much more hardship ahead to keep me and the rest of the viewing audience interested.
There was a wonderful coalescing of the back stories as we were shown intermingled accounts of different characters within the same episode for the first time. Characters like Kate, Jack, and Walt are becoming all the more real, which makes seeing their pre-crash personalities wind their way toward the airport and their subsequent fates all the more strange and fascinating.
Meanwhile, events are coming to some kind of major head back on the island. The French woman is back – a little more sane, none the less creepy – with the warning that The Others are coming. Man, aren’t the vague, ominous warnings the scariest by far? The drug smugglers with the machine guns and helicopters are coming is just way less scary (or interesting) than The Others are coming: your three options are run, hide, or die. Throw in some black smoke that looks like the People of the Damned are having an old fashioned cook out, and you’ve basically got me glued to the sofa, eyes on screen.
You had me at The Others.
So while the French lady leads a group to find explosives at the Black Rock, our heroes discover a wrecked ship… at the top of a hill. It looks like some kind of pirate ship, so who knows what them thar adventures lie behind its hull. Or something.
And the raft has finally set sale with the fearless crew of Michael, Walt, Sawyer, and Jin. Among the touching moments: the rapprochement between Jin and Sun, and little Walt leaving Vincent the dog with a for once non-evil Shannon.
What will happen with the raft? What’s the deal with the hatch? Will The Others’ offensive be repelled?
Two-hour season finale next week, kids.
Get the dog walked, break out the TV survival kit, dampen the Noises of Madness from within, kick back and enjoy.
Thursday
The Apprentice - NBC
Kendra won. She’s the Apprentice.
Which is nice – I’m happy for her. She deserved it.
But the rest of the finale was simply awful and not a little bit insulting as well. The first part of the hour was yet another grueling recap of the entire season, something we’ve seen several times before to varying extents. We then entered the live set with the band and the crowd and all, which was fine. Trump then goaded the two finalists into attacking each other and defending themselves, which was also all well and good.
The ending of the show (and the season) was a travesty. Kendra was announced as the winner with the already classic cliché of “You’re hired.” Was she asked what she thought about winning this 16-week competition and going on to refurbish a mansion in Florida for Trump (a project that is strikingly below the caliber of the projects that past winners Bill and Kelley took on)? No. There is a cut to music while Kendra is literally shoved out the door so that she can get into her new Pontiac… in time for the Pontiac commercial.
Are you serious? I watched this show for months, wrote about it for months, talked about it on my podcast for months… so that I can watch a woman driving a car?
I’m insulted. I may not be on board for the next edition of The Apprentice.
I’ll be looking for my pride in the meantime. Maybe it’s in my car.
Check out The Apprentice uber-post here.
The Sorest Loser: Why is the working class voting Republican?
Hey kids,
I've been especially lazy / busy / burned (burnt?) out this week, what with a hanging cold (there might be some chads up there as well, hard to tell) and Conspiring Forces compelling me to do such things as watch Undercover Brother into the far reaches of the night instead of Toiling in the Usual Manner.
That said, look for Cathode Ray Fray - The Week in TV later today and Dumpster Bust Radio #8 early next week. Lots more in store as well, including the first edition of The Perfect Film Series (Goodfellas vs. The Godfather, EB vs. The Duke: You just can't beat that).
In the meantime, I give you another brilliant foray into the political realm by our friend The Sorest Loser. He's talking pure politics today, which is right up my alley. Enjoy...
<<<<<>>>>>
What possesses poor Kansas meatpackers to vote Republican? Why would they vote for more tax breaks for the rich and less social insurance? To be sure, poor Republicans aren’t the only ones voting against their economic interests. Many rich people vote Democratic. But, unlike their poor conservative counterparts, rich liberals can afford to vote against their economic interests. But why would people who are barely scraping by vote against someone who wants to help them out?
In a recent column, David Brooks suggests that it’s because the Republicans are the party of optimistic individualism. As evidence, he presents a recent Pew Center survey according to which 76% of poor Republicans, and only 14% of poor Democrats, believe that most people can get ahead with hard work. Brooks argues that this difference in perceptions explains why Republicans are winning over the working class.
But this explanation is flawed for at least two reasons. First, it doesn’t explain why more and more working folks are becoming Republican. Gore lost white working class folks by 17% while Kerry lost them by 23%, and yet the working classes have lost ground during the Bush presidency. Why do more and more working class people believe that they can get ahead when they’ve been falling behind for years? In short, Brooks’s “explanation” only deepens the mystery.
A second flaw with Brooks’s analysis is that merely believing that most people can get ahead with hard work should not sway one toward the Republican party. After all, there’s nothing incompatible about believing in the powers of hard work but also wanting some help. Even if the average Joe believes that he can get ahead with hard work, it still seems irrational for him to refuse assistance.
In a recent article in the New York Review of Books, Thomas Frank argues that the Democrats are losing working class whites because they are seen as a party of effete intellectual snobs who sneer at the values of working folks. Republicans have effectively propagated this image, portraying Democrats as elitists and themselves as down home populists.
This sounds like a plausible explanation for why Democrats are losing white working class votes. But what should Democrats do about it? One option is to try to dispel this perception. The problem with this approach is that the perception is more or less accurate. Shedding this image would be difficult since, as I'll explain in a moment, the image corresponds to reality.
A better approach would be to tar Republicans with the same brush. After all, Republicans have about as much in common with working folks as Democrats do. Bush was born into one of our country’s most prominent political families, he attended Andover, then Yale, and then Harvard Business School. You don’t get much more elitist than that. But somehow Republicans have convinced the unwashed masses that Bush and the other Republicans are one of them and that the Democrats are elitist snobs.
Indeed, there’s something peculiar about the notion of a non-elitist politician. Politicians, after all, are in the business of telling people how to live their lives. Everyone in congress is engaged in crafting legislation that attempts to govern people’s choices. Anyone involved in this enterprise must assume, at least tacitly, that he knows better than the person whose life he’s governing. This is the essence of elitism.
Some might argue that, unlike Democrats, Republicans are struggling to get the government out of people’s lives. But nobody who’s been paying attention can honestly claim that that is what Republicans have been up to.
So, my advice to Democrats is not to try to shed the image that they are elitist snobs. This will fail because they are elitist snobs. The better strategy is to portray Republicans as elitist snobs. This shouldn’t be too difficult. Start publicizing pictures of them on their yachts, strutting around private country clubs, etc. Keep reminding people where Bush went to school and who his best friends are (e.g. Ken Lay). This should take the wind out of their sails.
I've been especially lazy / busy / burned (burnt?) out this week, what with a hanging cold (there might be some chads up there as well, hard to tell) and Conspiring Forces compelling me to do such things as watch Undercover Brother into the far reaches of the night instead of Toiling in the Usual Manner.
That said, look for Cathode Ray Fray - The Week in TV later today and Dumpster Bust Radio #8 early next week. Lots more in store as well, including the first edition of The Perfect Film Series (Goodfellas vs. The Godfather, EB vs. The Duke: You just can't beat that).
In the meantime, I give you another brilliant foray into the political realm by our friend The Sorest Loser. He's talking pure politics today, which is right up my alley. Enjoy...
<<<<<>>>>>
What possesses poor Kansas meatpackers to vote Republican? Why would they vote for more tax breaks for the rich and less social insurance? To be sure, poor Republicans aren’t the only ones voting against their economic interests. Many rich people vote Democratic. But, unlike their poor conservative counterparts, rich liberals can afford to vote against their economic interests. But why would people who are barely scraping by vote against someone who wants to help them out?
In a recent column, David Brooks suggests that it’s because the Republicans are the party of optimistic individualism. As evidence, he presents a recent Pew Center survey according to which 76% of poor Republicans, and only 14% of poor Democrats, believe that most people can get ahead with hard work. Brooks argues that this difference in perceptions explains why Republicans are winning over the working class.
But this explanation is flawed for at least two reasons. First, it doesn’t explain why more and more working folks are becoming Republican. Gore lost white working class folks by 17% while Kerry lost them by 23%, and yet the working classes have lost ground during the Bush presidency. Why do more and more working class people believe that they can get ahead when they’ve been falling behind for years? In short, Brooks’s “explanation” only deepens the mystery.
A second flaw with Brooks’s analysis is that merely believing that most people can get ahead with hard work should not sway one toward the Republican party. After all, there’s nothing incompatible about believing in the powers of hard work but also wanting some help. Even if the average Joe believes that he can get ahead with hard work, it still seems irrational for him to refuse assistance.
In a recent article in the New York Review of Books, Thomas Frank argues that the Democrats are losing working class whites because they are seen as a party of effete intellectual snobs who sneer at the values of working folks. Republicans have effectively propagated this image, portraying Democrats as elitists and themselves as down home populists.
This sounds like a plausible explanation for why Democrats are losing white working class votes. But what should Democrats do about it? One option is to try to dispel this perception. The problem with this approach is that the perception is more or less accurate. Shedding this image would be difficult since, as I'll explain in a moment, the image corresponds to reality.
A better approach would be to tar Republicans with the same brush. After all, Republicans have about as much in common with working folks as Democrats do. Bush was born into one of our country’s most prominent political families, he attended Andover, then Yale, and then Harvard Business School. You don’t get much more elitist than that. But somehow Republicans have convinced the unwashed masses that Bush and the other Republicans are one of them and that the Democrats are elitist snobs.
Indeed, there’s something peculiar about the notion of a non-elitist politician. Politicians, after all, are in the business of telling people how to live their lives. Everyone in congress is engaged in crafting legislation that attempts to govern people’s choices. Anyone involved in this enterprise must assume, at least tacitly, that he knows better than the person whose life he’s governing. This is the essence of elitism.
Some might argue that, unlike Democrats, Republicans are struggling to get the government out of people’s lives. But nobody who’s been paying attention can honestly claim that that is what Republicans have been up to.
So, my advice to Democrats is not to try to shed the image that they are elitist snobs. This will fail because they are elitist snobs. The better strategy is to portray Republicans as elitist snobs. This shouldn’t be too difficult. Start publicizing pictures of them on their yachts, strutting around private country clubs, etc. Keep reminding people where Bush went to school and who his best friends are (e.g. Ken Lay). This should take the wind out of their sails.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Lost Seeks Way to Sea, Black Rock
Lost is a show of journeys, discovery, mystery, and myth. All of those themes came together wonderfully in yet another taut and well written episode this week.
The pacing is quickening and I feel as though I’m coming to the end of a great novel or a spectacular film. The fact that it’s the first season of a television show only increases my enjoyment as I’m confident there will be more to see, more to be revealed over time.
But it also brings the paradox of great dramas and great serialized stories: there’s got to be much more conflict, much more hardship ahead to keep me and the rest of the viewing audience interested.
There was a wonderful coalescing of the back stories as we were shown intermingled accounts of different characters within the same episode for the first time. Characters like Kate, Jack, and Walt are becoming all the more real, which makes seeing their pre-crash personalities wind their way toward the airport and their subsequent fates all the more strange and fascinating.
Meanwhile, events are coming to some kind of major head back on the island. The French woman is back – a little more sane, none the less creepy – with the warning that The Others are coming. Man, aren’t the vague, ominous warnings the scariest by far? The drug smugglers with the machine guns and helicopters are coming is just way less scary (or interesting) than The Others are coming: your three options are run, hide, or die. Throw in some black smoke that looks like the People of the Damned are having an old fashioned cook out, and you’ve basically got me glued to the sofa, eyes on screen.
You had me at The Others.
So while the French lady leads a group to find explosives at the Black Rock, our heroes discover a wrecked ship… at the top of a hill. It looks like some kind of pirate ship, so who knows what them thar adventures lie behind its hull. Or something.
And the raft has finally set sale with the fearless crew of Michael, Walt, Sawyer, and Jin. Among the touching moments: the rapprochement between Jin and Sun, and little Walt leaving Vincent the dog with a for once non-evil Shannon.
What will happen with the raft? What’s the deal with the hatch? Will The Others’ offensive be repelled?
Two-hour season finale next week, kids.
Get the dog walked, break out the TV survival kit, dampen the Noises of Madness from within, kick back and enjoy.
The pacing is quickening and I feel as though I’m coming to the end of a great novel or a spectacular film. The fact that it’s the first season of a television show only increases my enjoyment as I’m confident there will be more to see, more to be revealed over time.
But it also brings the paradox of great dramas and great serialized stories: there’s got to be much more conflict, much more hardship ahead to keep me and the rest of the viewing audience interested.
There was a wonderful coalescing of the back stories as we were shown intermingled accounts of different characters within the same episode for the first time. Characters like Kate, Jack, and Walt are becoming all the more real, which makes seeing their pre-crash personalities wind their way toward the airport and their subsequent fates all the more strange and fascinating.
Meanwhile, events are coming to some kind of major head back on the island. The French woman is back – a little more sane, none the less creepy – with the warning that The Others are coming. Man, aren’t the vague, ominous warnings the scariest by far? The drug smugglers with the machine guns and helicopters are coming is just way less scary (or interesting) than The Others are coming: your three options are run, hide, or die. Throw in some black smoke that looks like the People of the Damned are having an old fashioned cook out, and you’ve basically got me glued to the sofa, eyes on screen.
You had me at The Others.
So while the French lady leads a group to find explosives at the Black Rock, our heroes discover a wrecked ship… at the top of a hill. It looks like some kind of pirate ship, so who knows what them thar adventures lie behind its hull. Or something.
And the raft has finally set sale with the fearless crew of Michael, Walt, Sawyer, and Jin. Among the touching moments: the rapprochement between Jin and Sun, and little Walt leaving Vincent the dog with a for once non-evil Shannon.
What will happen with the raft? What’s the deal with the hatch? Will The Others’ offensive be repelled?
Two-hour season finale next week, kids.
Get the dog walked, break out the TV survival kit, dampen the Noises of Madness from within, kick back and enjoy.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Dumpster Bust Radio Update
Hey y'all,
Due to a decently sized cold and a few other conspiring factors, DB Radio is taking a week off to get its collective head together, so to speak.
The next few shows are going to be really cool however, so I'm both happy and sad about this little delay. I have some absolutely phenomenal music to play, plus a couple of truly outstanding interviews to roll out.
Up next: Salon.com's resident advice columnist, Cary Tennis.
Where can you find Mr. Tennis? Here you go, Since You Asked...
Due to a decently sized cold and a few other conspiring factors, DB Radio is taking a week off to get its collective head together, so to speak.
The next few shows are going to be really cool however, so I'm both happy and sad about this little delay. I have some absolutely phenomenal music to play, plus a couple of truly outstanding interviews to roll out.
Up next: Salon.com's resident advice columnist, Cary Tennis.
Where can you find Mr. Tennis? Here you go, Since You Asked...
Monday, May 16, 2005
Dynasty Season One - DVD Review
Sometimes it’s nice to go back to a different time.
Reagan’s go-go 80s, unbridled capitalism, a time when it was still cool to exploit the world’s natural resources for all it was worth. Interwoven affairs between husbands and wives and homosexual men who aren’t sure if they’re homosexual or bisexual or oil tycoons in the making or what.
And, at least in the beginning: great writing, fun and quirky dialogue, a super cast, and an involving plotline.
Watching the first season of Dynasty on DVD was far more fun than I ever could have expected. After viewing each episode I wanted to call up a friend and say, “Can you believe how Fallon is playing that poor limo driver guy with her rich-bitch wiles?” Or, “Is Steven Carrington really gay, and what’s up with him sleeping with his boss’s wife?”
Or, “Girl, why Krystal gotta get played like that by Blake? You think she in it for the money or what?”
Okay, maybe I only wanted to ask that last one after polishing off the brandy that was held in my exquisite crystal decanter… just like the 512 decanters I saw polished off over the course of the season.
Of course only then did I realize that I was watching a television show originally broadcast in 1981. So on I forged into the Denver Carrington oil empire’s night.
There was the great John Forsythe as Blake Carrington, the head of the aforementioned oil empire, who played the role as a mixture of old school blue blood patriarch and troubled, alcohol-addled egomaniac. There’s a great balance at work with Forsythe’s performance: vulnerable and ruffled one moment, domineering and nearly sinister the next. Word has it that Forsythe worked hard to place some degree of likeability into his character, and I’m glad he did. The result is a complex man, something so rare on television during any era that it makes cause for celebration.
All of these character traits come to a broiling head during the episode in which Blake, for all intents and purposes, rapes his own wife (Krystal Carrington), played with grace and melancholy by Linda Evans. It took me a while to reconcile how Krystal could ever forgive Blake (who was driven to the act after learning that Krystal was secretly taking birth control pills): was this the temperament of the time, to stand by your man if he asks for forgiveness with a degree of sincerity? Or does it always help to be a billionaire?
Dynasty opens on the eve of a happy event: the marriage of Blake and Krystal, who had been a secretary to the oil magnate.
At least it should have been a happy event. Happy doesn’t play well on a nighttime soap, so the intrigue and conflict are served up and dished out in short order. Throughout the first season, the lightning rod proved to be Fallon Carrington (Pamela Sue Martin, who left the show after the 1984 season, to be replaced by Emma Samms). As Blake’s only daughter, she’s protective of her father and ever hungry for his approval. She’s also determined to break the glass ceiling that held women from the highest reaches of power in those days, and goes to some very extreme lengths to do it. Ultimately, Fallon is a fun character because she’s utterly comfortable being rich and has fun trapping others in their own insecurities. As the season progresses, Martin lets an attractive vulnerability shine through, particularly with regard to her brother Stephen, who is played by Al Corley (who, as bizarre as this is to write, was replaced with actor Jack Coleman following the debut season. This is explained away by an oil refinery explosion and extensive “plastic surgery”).
Ah, Stephen, the homosexual-bisexual-heterosexual(?) son of Blake and theoretically the natural successor to the House of Carrington.
Exceptin’ the fact that Blake doesn’t want any kind of a gay son working for him.
And this is where things get interesting, and complicated.
We then have Michael Blaisdel (Bo Hopkins), an up-and-coming oil man, largely cast into the role of Good Guy, who makes interesting bug eyes when frustrated or astounded. Blaisdel, it seems, dated Krystle before Krystle dated Blake. Blaisdel, however, is married to Claudia (Pamela Bellwood)… but that’s okay, because she was off at a mental hospital for a while.
That’s the back-story. Bring it up to date and you get:
The upshot throughout the season is that everyone’s married or in a relationship and just miserable about it. That element is as important as anything, including the flashy homes and clothes and Big Money look (in early 80s terms anyway. There are hilariously old school items on display: bland beige telephones that look like they should belong on a school nurse’s desk and not on that of a billionaire’s).
There’s plenty of other elements to keep you watching, however: Krystle learning to live in an Upstairs Downstairs world, shady limo drivers lurking on the scene, “wild cat” oil rigging, bar fights, brothels, lavish parties, and the famous mansion that’s the backdrop for much of the action.
All in all, Dynasty is pure escapism with a unique angle on soap and the ritzy and the drama (Come Watch the Rich Hate On One Another). It still has a fresh feel to it, which is testament to the quality of the writing and the overall storytelling.
The character of Alexis (Joan Collins) makes a half-second appearance at the tail end of the final episode (Blake on trial for “accidentally” killing Stephen’s ex-boyfriend), heralding a completely new era for the show. Much has been written about the rise and fall of Dynasty, but the first season is certainly something that shouldn’t be lost in the mix.
There are a few extras that come with the DVD set, but nothing to really write home about. I enjoyed a few of the featurettes, which talk about the development of characters such as Stephen and Fallon. The one audio commentary I checked out was deadly boring (it fell into the trap of No Talk While Characters Talking).
But Dynasty in its early days was certainly anything but boring.
Reagan’s go-go 80s, unbridled capitalism, a time when it was still cool to exploit the world’s natural resources for all it was worth. Interwoven affairs between husbands and wives and homosexual men who aren’t sure if they’re homosexual or bisexual or oil tycoons in the making or what.
And, at least in the beginning: great writing, fun and quirky dialogue, a super cast, and an involving plotline.
Watching the first season of Dynasty on DVD was far more fun than I ever could have expected. After viewing each episode I wanted to call up a friend and say, “Can you believe how Fallon is playing that poor limo driver guy with her rich-bitch wiles?” Or, “Is Steven Carrington really gay, and what’s up with him sleeping with his boss’s wife?”
Or, “Girl, why Krystal gotta get played like that by Blake? You think she in it for the money or what?”
Okay, maybe I only wanted to ask that last one after polishing off the brandy that was held in my exquisite crystal decanter… just like the 512 decanters I saw polished off over the course of the season.
Of course only then did I realize that I was watching a television show originally broadcast in 1981. So on I forged into the Denver Carrington oil empire’s night.
There was the great John Forsythe as Blake Carrington, the head of the aforementioned oil empire, who played the role as a mixture of old school blue blood patriarch and troubled, alcohol-addled egomaniac. There’s a great balance at work with Forsythe’s performance: vulnerable and ruffled one moment, domineering and nearly sinister the next. Word has it that Forsythe worked hard to place some degree of likeability into his character, and I’m glad he did. The result is a complex man, something so rare on television during any era that it makes cause for celebration.
All of these character traits come to a broiling head during the episode in which Blake, for all intents and purposes, rapes his own wife (Krystal Carrington), played with grace and melancholy by Linda Evans. It took me a while to reconcile how Krystal could ever forgive Blake (who was driven to the act after learning that Krystal was secretly taking birth control pills): was this the temperament of the time, to stand by your man if he asks for forgiveness with a degree of sincerity? Or does it always help to be a billionaire?
Dynasty opens on the eve of a happy event: the marriage of Blake and Krystal, who had been a secretary to the oil magnate.
At least it should have been a happy event. Happy doesn’t play well on a nighttime soap, so the intrigue and conflict are served up and dished out in short order. Throughout the first season, the lightning rod proved to be Fallon Carrington (Pamela Sue Martin, who left the show after the 1984 season, to be replaced by Emma Samms). As Blake’s only daughter, she’s protective of her father and ever hungry for his approval. She’s also determined to break the glass ceiling that held women from the highest reaches of power in those days, and goes to some very extreme lengths to do it. Ultimately, Fallon is a fun character because she’s utterly comfortable being rich and has fun trapping others in their own insecurities. As the season progresses, Martin lets an attractive vulnerability shine through, particularly with regard to her brother Stephen, who is played by Al Corley (who, as bizarre as this is to write, was replaced with actor Jack Coleman following the debut season. This is explained away by an oil refinery explosion and extensive “plastic surgery”).
Ah, Stephen, the homosexual-bisexual-heterosexual(?) son of Blake and theoretically the natural successor to the House of Carrington.
Exceptin’ the fact that Blake doesn’t want any kind of a gay son working for him.
And this is where things get interesting, and complicated.
We then have Michael Blaisdel (Bo Hopkins), an up-and-coming oil man, largely cast into the role of Good Guy, who makes interesting bug eyes when frustrated or astounded. Blaisdel, it seems, dated Krystle before Krystle dated Blake. Blaisdel, however, is married to Claudia (Pamela Bellwood)… but that’s okay, because she was off at a mental hospital for a while.
That’s the back-story. Bring it up to date and you get:
- Stephen has a boyfriend in New York… but he ends up sleeping with Claudia, the wife of his good friend and boss (Michael Blaisdel).
- Michael, married man that he is, pines for and occasionally kisses on Krystle.
- Krystle pines for Michael when she’s not getting date raped or forgiving Blake.
- Then there’s a storyline where Fallon gets married to Jeff Colby (John James) to keep daddy’s company afloat and to position herself in line for the throne.
The upshot throughout the season is that everyone’s married or in a relationship and just miserable about it. That element is as important as anything, including the flashy homes and clothes and Big Money look (in early 80s terms anyway. There are hilariously old school items on display: bland beige telephones that look like they should belong on a school nurse’s desk and not on that of a billionaire’s).
There’s plenty of other elements to keep you watching, however: Krystle learning to live in an Upstairs Downstairs world, shady limo drivers lurking on the scene, “wild cat” oil rigging, bar fights, brothels, lavish parties, and the famous mansion that’s the backdrop for much of the action.
All in all, Dynasty is pure escapism with a unique angle on soap and the ritzy and the drama (Come Watch the Rich Hate On One Another). It still has a fresh feel to it, which is testament to the quality of the writing and the overall storytelling.
The character of Alexis (Joan Collins) makes a half-second appearance at the tail end of the final episode (Blake on trial for “accidentally” killing Stephen’s ex-boyfriend), heralding a completely new era for the show. Much has been written about the rise and fall of Dynasty, but the first season is certainly something that shouldn’t be lost in the mix.
There are a few extras that come with the DVD set, but nothing to really write home about. I enjoyed a few of the featurettes, which talk about the development of characters such as Stephen and Fallon. The one audio commentary I checked out was deadly boring (it fell into the trap of No Talk While Characters Talking).
But Dynasty in its early days was certainly anything but boring.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Dave Chappelle Speaks: Not in Rehab, Hospital
Drudge Report claims that Dave Chappelle, comedian and recent recipient of $50 million to continue producing Comedy Central's popular Chappelle's Show, has spoken out amidst speculation that he winged off to South Africa for drug treatment or psychiatric care.
Dave Chappelle has always struck me as a laid back yet sharp-witted performer. The audio commentary on the DVD version of the first season of Chappelle's Show reveals a lucid, ambitious, and highly intelligent artist who was very careful about how he presented his material on camera.
So while Chappelle likes to play up his enjoyment of marijuana, my guess is that his sojourn to South Africa was more of a getaway than a get-me-away-from-drugs / mental health trip.
Here’s hoping that Chappelle and his Show are back in action soon.
<<<<<>>>>>
Update: Here's the Time story. A very interesting read, it showcases an attempt by a talented and successful man trying to stay sane amidst money, fame, and the trappings of both.
"I figured, Let me just cut myself off from everybody, take a minute and pull a Flintstone-stop a speeding car by using my feet as the brakes. I am surprised at what I would do for $50 million. I am surprised at what people around me would do for me to have $50 million," Dave Chappelle tells TIME's Christopher John Farley in an exclusive interview.
CHAPPELLE tells TIME he's not in mental hospital or drug rehab, debunking earlier reports in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY and elsewhere.
Dave Chappelle has always struck me as a laid back yet sharp-witted performer. The audio commentary on the DVD version of the first season of Chappelle's Show reveals a lucid, ambitious, and highly intelligent artist who was very careful about how he presented his material on camera.
So while Chappelle likes to play up his enjoyment of marijuana, my guess is that his sojourn to South Africa was more of a getaway than a get-me-away-from-drugs / mental health trip.
Here’s hoping that Chappelle and his Show are back in action soon.
<<<<<>>>>>
Update: Here's the Time story. A very interesting read, it showcases an attempt by a talented and successful man trying to stay sane amidst money, fame, and the trappings of both.
Interview: Phenomenal Fleeners
Phenomenal Fleeners is a wild and wooly band out of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Their sound has been described as anything ranging from off-the-cuff to slightly skewed to Satan A Go-Go. I caught up with the Fleeners recently and the resulting conversation, I think you’ll agree, was nothing short of phenomenal.
The line-up of Phenomenal Fleeners was described to me as:
Selby Wilson Fleener – Keys, Guitar, Vocals, Techie weenie, Engineer/Producer
Abraham Fleener – Vocals, Lyrics, and attitude
Rex Fleener – Bass, Vocals
Cory Burt Fleener – Percussion and Drums, and strange noises
Sidney Norman Fleener – Guitars, A-Holes, Vocals
Cory felt the need to add, “Since I’ve become a Fleener, I’ve changed my orientation to sideways.”
“Girl From Nova Skotia” was featured back in the early days of Dumpster Bust Radio (which was March, actually). Check it out here on Dumpster Bust Radio: Podcast #2.
<<<<<>>>>>
Eric Berlin: How'd y'all start out making music?
Abraham: All of us met in choir. We discovered we were all the only ones who wore nothing under our robes and figured we had a lot in common.
Rex: I like no underwear.
Abraham: I wouldn't call any of the Fleeners people. People is a 20th century term really -- most of the time there are five creatures who play the music. These five creatures are in humanoid form, yes, but prefer to be called "Fleeners," as both a family name and a scientific term.
Okay, Fleeners, you got it. I like to think of "Girl From Nova Skotia" as "Rock Lobster" meets spooky alt rock with horns. How'd that song come into being and what's your take on it?
Sidney: It started with Selby Wilson and myself in my basement a couple of years back. Selby found an old Theremin in the corner. We wired it through the pickup in my ’54 Danelectro guitar, and just went with it. Talk about your voltage! It was Abraham who got us to bring in horns, and Cory found the right beat.
Abraham: It's about an actual humanoid/groupie who was from that place up north, the relationship of rock music to the artist/groupie mating ritual, and the overall fragile nature of the space-time continuum.
We would never throw a girl into a boiling pot of water like you would any crustacean. Unless she started listening to other bands. I wish Dick Clark could rate it.
How often do you gig out? What do you enjoy about live performances?
Abraham: We gig out all the time. The enjoyment of the performance depends mostly on the quality of the deli tray provided by the club or party. The Fleeners also love to compose on the spot. Having enough outlets for plugging in is also very enjoyable for working musicians.
Selby: Mmm… deli tray.
Sidney: We catch gigs whenever and wherever we can, which is pretty frequently of late. Minnesota is a lot more hip for gigs than most would believe.
As for enjoyment while playing, just standing in front of a bunch fans is the greatest wind ever. It keeps me cool too.
Any plans to cut an album or head out on tour in the works?
Sidney: We’re currently working on an EP/CD that includes Girl from Nova Skotia. As for touring, we’d like to do that if things go well with our CD. For now it’s bars and parties.
What are you listening to right now?
Abraham: The mighty Led Zeppelin, Tom Waits, Bowie, Three Dog Night.
And Nancy Sinatra.
Sidney: Nothing at the moment. In about 10 minutes I’ll turn on news radio. As for likeable tunes it’s Klaatu for the time being.
Who are some of your musical influences?
Abraham: Whale songs, the percolation of a nice bong, and any rock. Also train whistles near our studio.
Sidney: As a being that loves the guitar, I’ve been influenced by the following: Mr. Jeff Beck, Mr. Frank Zappa, Mr. Selby Wilson Fleener, Angus/Malcolm, and the Whiz Himself: Mr. Segovia Fleener. Let’s not forget my buddy Joe Fleener Walsh as well!
Selby: Me and Bobby McGee, Uncle Frank, U3, Dramarama.
Tough question: top five bands of all time?
The Fleeners collaborate…
First we would vote for us. Then we would honor the standards: Beatles, Stones, The Who, Zeppelin, The Partridge Family, and the Shags.
What do you for fun?
Abraham: Fly kites.
Sidney: I collect guitars, women, and objects made of silicon.
Selby: I’m working on removing my monitoring bracelet.
Rex: I eat ice cream.
What's your craziest / weirdest "being in a band" story?
Abraham: Selby Wilson Fleener, our keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist, has many issues. Most of the crazy stories revolve around him working up a crowd so they chant that they want a song about a chicken, which we have yet to write.
Once the crowd realizes that a song about this interesting farm creature is not going to be played, then things turn violent or strange. Once a club owner revoked our right to eat chicken off the deli tray after a particularly strange "no chicken song, sorry" episode.
Selby: The time we put the cheese log in the smoke machine.
The line-up of Phenomenal Fleeners was described to me as:
Selby Wilson Fleener – Keys, Guitar, Vocals, Techie weenie, Engineer/Producer
Abraham Fleener – Vocals, Lyrics, and attitude
Rex Fleener – Bass, Vocals
Cory Burt Fleener – Percussion and Drums, and strange noises
Sidney Norman Fleener – Guitars, A-Holes, Vocals
Cory felt the need to add, “Since I’ve become a Fleener, I’ve changed my orientation to sideways.”
“Girl From Nova Skotia” was featured back in the early days of Dumpster Bust Radio (which was March, actually). Check it out here on Dumpster Bust Radio: Podcast #2.
<<<<<>>>>>
Eric Berlin: How'd y'all start out making music?
Abraham: All of us met in choir. We discovered we were all the only ones who wore nothing under our robes and figured we had a lot in common.
Rex: I like no underwear.
Abraham: I wouldn't call any of the Fleeners people. People is a 20th century term really -- most of the time there are five creatures who play the music. These five creatures are in humanoid form, yes, but prefer to be called "Fleeners," as both a family name and a scientific term.
Okay, Fleeners, you got it. I like to think of "Girl From Nova Skotia" as "Rock Lobster" meets spooky alt rock with horns. How'd that song come into being and what's your take on it?
Sidney: It started with Selby Wilson and myself in my basement a couple of years back. Selby found an old Theremin in the corner. We wired it through the pickup in my ’54 Danelectro guitar, and just went with it. Talk about your voltage! It was Abraham who got us to bring in horns, and Cory found the right beat.
Abraham: It's about an actual humanoid/groupie who was from that place up north, the relationship of rock music to the artist/groupie mating ritual, and the overall fragile nature of the space-time continuum.
We would never throw a girl into a boiling pot of water like you would any crustacean. Unless she started listening to other bands. I wish Dick Clark could rate it.
How often do you gig out? What do you enjoy about live performances?
Abraham: We gig out all the time. The enjoyment of the performance depends mostly on the quality of the deli tray provided by the club or party. The Fleeners also love to compose on the spot. Having enough outlets for plugging in is also very enjoyable for working musicians.
Selby: Mmm… deli tray.
Sidney: We catch gigs whenever and wherever we can, which is pretty frequently of late. Minnesota is a lot more hip for gigs than most would believe.
As for enjoyment while playing, just standing in front of a bunch fans is the greatest wind ever. It keeps me cool too.
Any plans to cut an album or head out on tour in the works?
Sidney: We’re currently working on an EP/CD that includes Girl from Nova Skotia. As for touring, we’d like to do that if things go well with our CD. For now it’s bars and parties.
What are you listening to right now?
Abraham: The mighty Led Zeppelin, Tom Waits, Bowie, Three Dog Night.
And Nancy Sinatra.
Sidney: Nothing at the moment. In about 10 minutes I’ll turn on news radio. As for likeable tunes it’s Klaatu for the time being.
Who are some of your musical influences?
Abraham: Whale songs, the percolation of a nice bong, and any rock. Also train whistles near our studio.
Sidney: As a being that loves the guitar, I’ve been influenced by the following: Mr. Jeff Beck, Mr. Frank Zappa, Mr. Selby Wilson Fleener, Angus/Malcolm, and the Whiz Himself: Mr. Segovia Fleener. Let’s not forget my buddy Joe Fleener Walsh as well!
Selby: Me and Bobby McGee, Uncle Frank, U3, Dramarama.
Tough question: top five bands of all time?
The Fleeners collaborate…
First we would vote for us. Then we would honor the standards: Beatles, Stones, The Who, Zeppelin, The Partridge Family, and the Shags.
What do you for fun?
Abraham: Fly kites.
Sidney: I collect guitars, women, and objects made of silicon.
Selby: I’m working on removing my monitoring bracelet.
Rex: I eat ice cream.
What's your craziest / weirdest "being in a band" story?
Abraham: Selby Wilson Fleener, our keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist, has many issues. Most of the crazy stories revolve around him working up a crowd so they chant that they want a song about a chicken, which we have yet to write.
Once the crowd realizes that a song about this interesting farm creature is not going to be played, then things turn violent or strange. Once a club owner revoked our right to eat chicken off the deli tray after a particularly strange "no chicken song, sorry" episode.
Selby: The time we put the cheese log in the smoke machine.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Cathode Ray Fray: The Week in TV – 5-13-05
As always, I take on the shows I watched during the week, and provide you with links to some of the other fine TV work going on at BlogCritics.
But where are my children going? What am I to do? Many of the best shows on TV are closing up shop for the year.
I humbly await marching orders from the Ray.
Always Obey the Ray!
Overall take on the week:
Best Show on Television: Project Greenlight and Lost – magnificent both
Upper-tier Shows: The Contender – simply great this week
Rocking It Steady: The Apprentice
Falling… just about outside the range of the Ray: Trippin’, Alias
<<<<<>>>>>
Sunday
The Contender - NBC
The fights keep getting better each week. Maybe it’s because we’ve come to know the contenders fairly well by now, as this week wrapped up the end of the second round. Perhaps it’s because the level of competition continues to rise.
All I know is that the climactic fight between Jesse Brinkley and Anthony “The Bullet” Bonsante was one of the most exciting sporting events (heavily and cleverly edited though it was) I have ever seen.
All the signs were there from the outset. Brinkley had been resting on his laurels since his early first round victory, taking care to mess with other fighter’s heads and form alliances during his time off. Couple that with a hamstring tweak during a recent physical challenge and the need to lose eight pounds to make weight in one day (by the way: where do I get me one of those sweat suits?) and Brinkley looked like he might be in trouble.
Bonsante, on the other hand, has been a one-man daddy-a-thon since the outset (see: his victory during the epic Kids vs. God match-up in Round One). Every third or fourth word out of his mouth is “kids” or “daddy” or “father.” His physical ministrations include adjusting his “#1 Daddy” hat and wiping tears from his eyes. That said, he translates this emotion into some kind of psychotic stampede in the ring that is downright frightening.
Brinkley observed that Bonsante doesn’t box, he fights.
Brinkley did not mention that Bonsante is the guy that you would discreetly make for the nearest exit for if you happened to catch him staring at you in a public place.
Many of the five-round fights up until now have been a seesaw battle: one guy looks like he’s winning, then tires as the other fighter stages a comeback. Almost every week, the fifth and final round has ascended to an all-out war between men with great hearts and mighty fists.
This week’s fight was that exactly that, and more. Bonsante, scrapping any semblance of discipline, landed dozens of bruising blows on the smaller, shaky-looking Brinkley well into the fourth round. It looked as though Brinkley would have to turn things around with an unlikely knockout in the fifth round to advance.
And he did.
A timely uppercut to the charging Bonsante’s chin laid him out on the canvas, a devastating and classic blow that turned around the entire fight. Bonsante was done at that point, though it took another 30 or so seconds for the fight to be called.
In the end, the Kids could only go so far.
Now we’re left with Brinkley, Peter Manfredo, Mora (The Latin Snake), and Gomez. All worthy fighters going after the $1 million prize in Las Vegas.
This is getting really really good.
Monday
Trippin’ - MTV
Cameron Diaz and DMX and some people went camping at Yellowstone in Wyoming. I got bored and cut out.
American Idol - Fox
There is a mega-ton of American Idol talk this week, as always. I don’t subscribe to the madness myself, but check out the uber-post here.
Tuesday
The Shield - FX
On hiatus this week. Not even a repeat to shore up the fan base.
What up, Mackey?
Wednesday
Lost - ABC
Questions, questions, questions.
“Questions that need answering,” Gandalf tells us grimly near the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring.
And, indeed, Lost is doling out its own number to put it at least in the same ballpark as Frodo and the G-man and their epic quest.
The back story takes us back to Kate once again this week, and we find out just how dark the path of our heroine-come-fugitive has been. We also see another connection form between Kate and Sawyer: the spilling of innocent blood is on both of their hands.
Why did Kate’s mom, hospital-ridden and apparently dying, cry out for help! help! when her daughter risked life and freedom to visit her? Was it because she was sickened and frightened at the site of her bank robbing offspring, or is there something more sinister at play?
Speaking of sinister, our cute little Walt continues to creep me out with his innocent asides of evil! evil! don’t touch! on the island. The two things to watch at present are the raft and the hatch. And evil seems to linger around the fringes of each.
Ah, the hatch. What’s going on down there, and why is Walt seriously scared witless by it?
By the way, there’s simply dynamite chemistry every time the brilliant Terry O’Quinn (John Locke) is on screen with our little Walt, played by Malcolm David Kelley.
It was a fascinating moment when Walt confessed to his father that he had been the one responsible for sabotaging the first raft. Now though, we’re told, he’s convinced it’s time to get the hell off the island.
And just what the hell is under that hatch? What the hell awaits the raft at sea (if it ever reaches water)? And why might the island or some other mystical force want (need?) everyone to stay put?
Next week looks to be an action-packed episode, what with hints of the return of the French woman and allusions to the “others.”
You know I’m gonna be up on it.
Alias - ABC
The Ray contacted Wife and told Her to Report on Alias this week:
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me three times, shame on this entire season.
What do you say about being fooled for nearly an entire season! Hard core idiot me, that's what. A flutter of hope emerged from my chest as the interesting possibility of Arvin Clone being the real Arvin Sloan dangled before me. Unfortunately, as I reeled in the line, only a toilet seat emerged.
Each episode continues to be a neat little package of good-for-nothing, crap plot. Unless something amazing happens, I won't play the idiot for another season.
Thursday
The Apprentice - NBC
The show opened with a continuation of the final task: Tana and the Bring the Olympics to New York event and Kendra and the videogame championships at Webster Hall.
While in past seasons, the final event ended at a relative draw, it was obvious from the outset that Kendra – who may be the Came From Nowhere Kid this year – was outgunning and outshining her opponent in teamwork, coordination, and most importantly, style.
Tana, clearly harassed at the complexity of her assignment and not a little bit high on her relative power (short lived though it may be) took clear pleasure in dissing on her (admittedly not top-notch) team members Chris, Kristen, and Brian. The big mistake was to do so to Carolyn and in front of clients. Big no nos.
A series of moderate mess-ups then almost sunk the event: Kristen’s brochure managed to include insider notes on the professional athletes attending (X swimmer is camera shy, etc.) while Gov. George “Wacky Like” Pataki of New York was first left waiting outside the event while his aide fumed and then was not granted his request to carry the American flag out to the stage… because one couldn’t be found in the Flags of the World box.
Not good, Tana. D Trump left not pleased.
Key Tana Line #1…
To Bruce Jenner: I think you’re looking at the next Apprentice.
…Equals Red Flag/Major Kiss of Death Warning #1
Key Tana Line #2…
I’m a shark in a goldfish outfit. I’m a killer.
…Equals… Okay, then. I guess. Ahem.
Kendra’s team and event, on the other hand, turned around marvelously thanks to a cohesive team and adept client relations all around. Even George seemed to be in a good mood… and there’s just something about that that gives me a warm glow.
But I digress.
There could not have been a bigger difference in a way the final task ended. While Tana imperiously dismissed her dumbkopf common flock, real emotions were expressed between Kendra and her team.
The comparative strength of Kendra’s team (and her relatively easier task of managing a video game championship) may pull her to a win, but it’s her attitude that should really be what puts her over the top. I wasn’t enthusiastic about Kendra early on, but she’s proven to me and all of the naysayers week after week that she has the guts and intelligence and balance to take on the rough waters of Trump Land. Tana’s performance was borderline sickening, and I think even Daddy Trump himself can smell out an ego that’s puffing out the seams of an ordinary performer.
The end of the show threw a major curveball to normal Apprentice operations, as team members from the final task filed into the boardroom as the closing credits rolled. Tana, who had already taken some major body blows in the boardroom from Trump and Carolyn, looked dazed (some might say bedazzled, but not me) and confused.
Now, it’s onward to the live finale next week.
And I’ve got to say to Kendra, “Win it, baby!”
‘Cause you know you won’t see no kind of you go girl! from this here writer.
Check out The Apprentice uber-post here.
Project Greenlight - Bravo
The final show of the season was a bittersweet experience for me, as I had developed strange cathode-induced attachments to many of the main players involved in the creation of the B horror film, Feast.
I felt proud of first-time director John Gulager for pulling off a film that everyone – at least the producers and the studio – seem to really like. When Gulager had lunch in New York with Matt Damon to discuss the film and the process and what was next, I felt like I (and the audience) were there as well, getting a glimpse at how Hollywood really operates.
Although I’ve talked a lot about the pitfalls and embedded barriers in the studio system in making a quality and worthy film, viewing the process close-up has been nothing less than illuminating. I can now appreciate the difficulty in producing quality films and will therefore temper my impulses to simply deride the Crappola of the Week that rolls through the local multiplex.
Well, I’ll still deride… but maybe not so harshly.
We were treated to the manic side of post-production this week, leading up to the first test screening with a run-of-the-mill, no preconceived notions audience. Watching the layers of the film come together – sound editing, color quality, voiceovers, additional shots, extra budget levied, and on and on – I saw how passionate, how dedicated, how far you have to go to not just create a film, but to create anything worth creating.
In other words, to put form to a dream you have work your ass off like it’s never been worked before. But if you can pull it off, the rewards will almost surely be worth the effort, psychically and spiritually, if not tangibly.
The fate of Feast was still not completely known by the end of the show (and the series) because of the divorce between Miramax and Disney and the no man’s land status that placed Dimension (Feast’s studio backer) in. Fortunately, Feast looks as though it will make it to the uplands of wide distribution as the Weinstein brothers, we were told, had selected the film as one of the projects that will help to kick off their new production company.
After living through the process of the making of this film every week on Bravo, I’d like to see Feast when it comes out this winter. Will I be able to see the struggle, the in-fighting, the sweat and the fear that went into the making of this half-horror, half-comedy about pelt-shrouded monsters attacking a bar in the desert?
I don’t know, but I’ll be looking for something. Maybe a dream taking form.
Or maybe just scantily-clad actresses getting sprayed with gore.
Who knows?
But where are my children going? What am I to do? Many of the best shows on TV are closing up shop for the year.
I humbly await marching orders from the Ray.
Always Obey the Ray!
Overall take on the week:
Best Show on Television: Project Greenlight and Lost – magnificent both
Upper-tier Shows: The Contender – simply great this week
Rocking It Steady: The Apprentice
Falling… just about outside the range of the Ray: Trippin’, Alias
<<<<<>>>>>
Sunday
The Contender - NBC
The fights keep getting better each week. Maybe it’s because we’ve come to know the contenders fairly well by now, as this week wrapped up the end of the second round. Perhaps it’s because the level of competition continues to rise.
All I know is that the climactic fight between Jesse Brinkley and Anthony “The Bullet” Bonsante was one of the most exciting sporting events (heavily and cleverly edited though it was) I have ever seen.
All the signs were there from the outset. Brinkley had been resting on his laurels since his early first round victory, taking care to mess with other fighter’s heads and form alliances during his time off. Couple that with a hamstring tweak during a recent physical challenge and the need to lose eight pounds to make weight in one day (by the way: where do I get me one of those sweat suits?) and Brinkley looked like he might be in trouble.
Bonsante, on the other hand, has been a one-man daddy-a-thon since the outset (see: his victory during the epic Kids vs. God match-up in Round One). Every third or fourth word out of his mouth is “kids” or “daddy” or “father.” His physical ministrations include adjusting his “#1 Daddy” hat and wiping tears from his eyes. That said, he translates this emotion into some kind of psychotic stampede in the ring that is downright frightening.
Brinkley observed that Bonsante doesn’t box, he fights.
Brinkley did not mention that Bonsante is the guy that you would discreetly make for the nearest exit for if you happened to catch him staring at you in a public place.
Many of the five-round fights up until now have been a seesaw battle: one guy looks like he’s winning, then tires as the other fighter stages a comeback. Almost every week, the fifth and final round has ascended to an all-out war between men with great hearts and mighty fists.
This week’s fight was that exactly that, and more. Bonsante, scrapping any semblance of discipline, landed dozens of bruising blows on the smaller, shaky-looking Brinkley well into the fourth round. It looked as though Brinkley would have to turn things around with an unlikely knockout in the fifth round to advance.
And he did.
A timely uppercut to the charging Bonsante’s chin laid him out on the canvas, a devastating and classic blow that turned around the entire fight. Bonsante was done at that point, though it took another 30 or so seconds for the fight to be called.
In the end, the Kids could only go so far.
Now we’re left with Brinkley, Peter Manfredo, Mora (The Latin Snake), and Gomez. All worthy fighters going after the $1 million prize in Las Vegas.
This is getting really really good.
Monday
Trippin’ - MTV
Cameron Diaz and DMX and some people went camping at Yellowstone in Wyoming. I got bored and cut out.
American Idol - Fox
There is a mega-ton of American Idol talk this week, as always. I don’t subscribe to the madness myself, but check out the uber-post here.
Tuesday
The Shield - FX
On hiatus this week. Not even a repeat to shore up the fan base.
What up, Mackey?
Wednesday
Lost - ABC
Questions, questions, questions.
“Questions that need answering,” Gandalf tells us grimly near the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring.
And, indeed, Lost is doling out its own number to put it at least in the same ballpark as Frodo and the G-man and their epic quest.
The back story takes us back to Kate once again this week, and we find out just how dark the path of our heroine-come-fugitive has been. We also see another connection form between Kate and Sawyer: the spilling of innocent blood is on both of their hands.
Why did Kate’s mom, hospital-ridden and apparently dying, cry out for help! help! when her daughter risked life and freedom to visit her? Was it because she was sickened and frightened at the site of her bank robbing offspring, or is there something more sinister at play?
Speaking of sinister, our cute little Walt continues to creep me out with his innocent asides of evil! evil! don’t touch! on the island. The two things to watch at present are the raft and the hatch. And evil seems to linger around the fringes of each.
Ah, the hatch. What’s going on down there, and why is Walt seriously scared witless by it?
By the way, there’s simply dynamite chemistry every time the brilliant Terry O’Quinn (John Locke) is on screen with our little Walt, played by Malcolm David Kelley.
It was a fascinating moment when Walt confessed to his father that he had been the one responsible for sabotaging the first raft. Now though, we’re told, he’s convinced it’s time to get the hell off the island.
And just what the hell is under that hatch? What the hell awaits the raft at sea (if it ever reaches water)? And why might the island or some other mystical force want (need?) everyone to stay put?
Next week looks to be an action-packed episode, what with hints of the return of the French woman and allusions to the “others.”
You know I’m gonna be up on it.
Alias - ABC
The Ray contacted Wife and told Her to Report on Alias this week:
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me three times, shame on this entire season.
What do you say about being fooled for nearly an entire season! Hard core idiot me, that's what. A flutter of hope emerged from my chest as the interesting possibility of Arvin Clone being the real Arvin Sloan dangled before me. Unfortunately, as I reeled in the line, only a toilet seat emerged.
Each episode continues to be a neat little package of good-for-nothing, crap plot. Unless something amazing happens, I won't play the idiot for another season.
Thursday
The Apprentice - NBC
The show opened with a continuation of the final task: Tana and the Bring the Olympics to New York event and Kendra and the videogame championships at Webster Hall.
While in past seasons, the final event ended at a relative draw, it was obvious from the outset that Kendra – who may be the Came From Nowhere Kid this year – was outgunning and outshining her opponent in teamwork, coordination, and most importantly, style.
Tana, clearly harassed at the complexity of her assignment and not a little bit high on her relative power (short lived though it may be) took clear pleasure in dissing on her (admittedly not top-notch) team members Chris, Kristen, and Brian. The big mistake was to do so to Carolyn and in front of clients. Big no nos.
A series of moderate mess-ups then almost sunk the event: Kristen’s brochure managed to include insider notes on the professional athletes attending (X swimmer is camera shy, etc.) while Gov. George “Wacky Like” Pataki of New York was first left waiting outside the event while his aide fumed and then was not granted his request to carry the American flag out to the stage… because one couldn’t be found in the Flags of the World box.
Not good, Tana. D Trump left not pleased.
Key Tana Line #1…
To Bruce Jenner: I think you’re looking at the next Apprentice.
…Equals Red Flag/Major Kiss of Death Warning #1
Key Tana Line #2…
I’m a shark in a goldfish outfit. I’m a killer.
…Equals… Okay, then. I guess. Ahem.
Kendra’s team and event, on the other hand, turned around marvelously thanks to a cohesive team and adept client relations all around. Even George seemed to be in a good mood… and there’s just something about that that gives me a warm glow.
But I digress.
There could not have been a bigger difference in a way the final task ended. While Tana imperiously dismissed her dumbkopf common flock, real emotions were expressed between Kendra and her team.
The comparative strength of Kendra’s team (and her relatively easier task of managing a video game championship) may pull her to a win, but it’s her attitude that should really be what puts her over the top. I wasn’t enthusiastic about Kendra early on, but she’s proven to me and all of the naysayers week after week that she has the guts and intelligence and balance to take on the rough waters of Trump Land. Tana’s performance was borderline sickening, and I think even Daddy Trump himself can smell out an ego that’s puffing out the seams of an ordinary performer.
The end of the show threw a major curveball to normal Apprentice operations, as team members from the final task filed into the boardroom as the closing credits rolled. Tana, who had already taken some major body blows in the boardroom from Trump and Carolyn, looked dazed (some might say bedazzled, but not me) and confused.
Now, it’s onward to the live finale next week.
And I’ve got to say to Kendra, “Win it, baby!”
‘Cause you know you won’t see no kind of you go girl! from this here writer.
Check out The Apprentice uber-post here.
Project Greenlight - Bravo
The final show of the season was a bittersweet experience for me, as I had developed strange cathode-induced attachments to many of the main players involved in the creation of the B horror film, Feast.
I felt proud of first-time director John Gulager for pulling off a film that everyone – at least the producers and the studio – seem to really like. When Gulager had lunch in New York with Matt Damon to discuss the film and the process and what was next, I felt like I (and the audience) were there as well, getting a glimpse at how Hollywood really operates.
Although I’ve talked a lot about the pitfalls and embedded barriers in the studio system in making a quality and worthy film, viewing the process close-up has been nothing less than illuminating. I can now appreciate the difficulty in producing quality films and will therefore temper my impulses to simply deride the Crappola of the Week that rolls through the local multiplex.
Well, I’ll still deride… but maybe not so harshly.
We were treated to the manic side of post-production this week, leading up to the first test screening with a run-of-the-mill, no preconceived notions audience. Watching the layers of the film come together – sound editing, color quality, voiceovers, additional shots, extra budget levied, and on and on – I saw how passionate, how dedicated, how far you have to go to not just create a film, but to create anything worth creating.
In other words, to put form to a dream you have work your ass off like it’s never been worked before. But if you can pull it off, the rewards will almost surely be worth the effort, psychically and spiritually, if not tangibly.
The fate of Feast was still not completely known by the end of the show (and the series) because of the divorce between Miramax and Disney and the no man’s land status that placed Dimension (Feast’s studio backer) in. Fortunately, Feast looks as though it will make it to the uplands of wide distribution as the Weinstein brothers, we were told, had selected the film as one of the projects that will help to kick off their new production company.
After living through the process of the making of this film every week on Bravo, I’d like to see Feast when it comes out this winter. Will I be able to see the struggle, the in-fighting, the sweat and the fear that went into the making of this half-horror, half-comedy about pelt-shrouded monsters attacking a bar in the desert?
I don’t know, but I’ll be looking for something. Maybe a dream taking form.
Or maybe just scantily-clad actresses getting sprayed with gore.
Who knows?
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Interview: Podcaster Lance Anderson of Verge of the Fringe
Lance Anderson is a Los Angeles-based podcaster and storyteller. His podcast, Verge of the Fringe, can frequently be found near the top of the rankings at Podcast Alley.
I met up with Lance recently at a Pasadena coffee house to chat about his origins in stand-up comedy, his transition to storytelling and later to podcasting, and the power and potential that the phenomenon of podcasting brings.
For the full-length version of this interview, check out Dumpster Bust Radio: Podcast #6 for the first half, and DB Radio #7 for the second.
For a quick explainer on podcasts and podcasting, click here.
Check out Verge of the Fringe here.
<<<<<>>>>>
Eric Berlin: How did you get involved with podcasting?
Lance Anderson: Well, I was a storyteller – I still am a storyteller – and I’ve been telling stories live on stage for years.
Dan Klass, of The Bitterest Pill, told me pretty early on that there’s this thing going on out there called podcasting. I had no idea what he was talking about. He said, “It would be perfect for you – you can tell your stories.” We’ve worked together over the past ten years, and he knows the situation I’ve been in. For show business, my stuff isn’t “stand-up comedy” enough. For things like This American Life, they say there’s too many jokes. So I don’t really fit anywhere.
So Dan had me on his show a couple of times, and we did some stuff together, which I thought was pretty cool. And maybe we’ll do some stuff in the future together – I hope! But he just told me about it and kind of got me hooked up and I got rolling. And I love it.
It’s just a fantastic thing, podcasting. I think it’s really cool and it’s going to get bigger and bigger.
EB: So what exactly is a storyteller?
LA: I would say that storyteller is kind of broad term in the same way that spoken word is a broad term. But for storytelling, I see it everywhere, even in the “couples shows” that I see in podcasting. And it’s basically when you’re not focused on telling a joke, you’re focused on telling a story. And maybe it’s funny, and maybe you put things in there that you know are going to generate laughs. But it’s not about that. It’s about the story itself.
It’s taking the focus away from the short-term goal of the laugh. You know, six or seven a minute for stand-up. I might talk for three or four minutes, but there might be a big laugh at the end of this bit that I’m doing. So the focus is changed from just getting the laughs to telling a story.
EB: How did you get from there to Verge of the Fringe?
LA: In my description, I say that I live somewhere between the verge of success and the Bohemian fringe of Hollywood. To me, it’s a play on words obviously: I’m really like on the verge of the fringe. Not really on the verge of success, but more like being on the verge of being a fringe person my whole life.
Podcasting is kind of fringe, but it’s fringe in a good way. It’s fringe because we can do unfiltered material, and it doesn’t have or need to have that corporate stamp of approval. We can just be real. And the one thing that people see, whether it’s storytelling or anything, is that it’s real people. It’s like, there’s a real person back there! There’s not some corporate thing, where we’re supposed to sound a certain way, and that’s the appeal to it. Including your show – there’s a person behind it.
EB: I think it’s the Bohemian fringe of media, which is a different thing and attracts those kinds of people, doesn’t it?
LA: Totally, and I think that’s where it’s going.
EB: You’ve mentioned stand-up comedy a little bit. How’d you make the decision that it wasn’t for you and that you were more of a storyteller?
LA: I trace a lot of it back to when I saw the film Swimming to Cambodia. I think I saw it in about 1986 or 1987. I was in college up at Humboldt State University, and I saw that and I said, “You know what? That’s what I want to do.” I knew of Spalding Gray from watching David Letterman but I hadn’t really seen his act. And after I saw it I realized that that’s what I wanted to do: I wanted to tell stories.
I didn’t know how to do it and I didn’t have a forum to do it. But I knew I wanted to perform material so I knew there was stand-up comedy. So I started writing jokes and I tried to do stand-up comedy for about a year, and my heart wasn’t really in it. It’s like that thing I was talking about earlier where it was just about the laughs. And I wanted to tell these stories. So through a couple of year battle of figuring out how to do this and going back up to school, I finally decided that I was going to get up on stage and tell stories.
So that’s where I started. I started telling stories around 1990 or so, and I love doing that.
EB: I think that your storytelling style resonates with a lot of people. How did you develop that style? And particularly, you have a very clean format on your podcast in which you have an introduction where you talk a little bit, and then you go right into a story.
LA: I didn’t know how I was going to format it. I just experimented with it that way the first time or second time and thought that it kind of works. On what I call my pre-ramble, I thank people, talk about some podcasting news, and then go into the story.
I am a little bit limited by that because I feel like people expect that, and I want to continue to provide that. So I will have to venture out to some more pop culture-oriented things like you’re doing, which I’m interested in.
EB: How do you put each show together?
LA: Basically, I start with the story. For instance, the piece I did called “No, I Didn’t Even Kiss Her.” I’ve told that a bunch of times on stage. And I said, “You know what? I’ll break it up into three parts.” Which was kind of a different way for me to do that.
So right then I had three shows. And then it just became about whatever I was going to say in the pre-ramble beforehand, and that’s just based on – at least early on – I was able to thank pretty much everyone who had gotten a hold of me through an e-mail or a comment.
This is my little art project in a way. I’m a storyteller, and hopefully it’s kind of smart and cool and people like it. People are liking it – that’s the whole thing that’s insane, that people are really starting to dig it. So far people have been really kind and generous to me.
EB: Do you have prepared notes that you speak from while you’re recording your show?
LA: For my stories, I’m not using any notes right now. I’ve used notes even when I’m on stage sometimes, but for this I’m just going casual. That’s not to say I won’t use bullet points, but I certainly won’t read, and I think anyone who listens to the show knows that.
It’s freeform. I’m reliving the story, and one of the comments I get from people is that it feels like it’s a friend talking to you at the bar or the coffee house or whatever. And I just try and tell it like I’m talking to somebody and not get over-the-top. Like, “Hey, this funny thing happened to me,” while you’re driving in the car or whatever. “This funny thing happened…” And by the time this guy has told the story, you’re twenty miles down the road and the time has flown by. That’s kind of the premise of it.
EB: A recent show you did called “The Pope of Podcasting” was the first I had heard and I was really struck by it. If I’m not incorrect, my takeaway from that story is that each person has the power to enact positive change on the world.
LA: I think so, yeah. I hope so. I believe in podcasting. I think it’s a great thing. I believe that right now, it needs more diversity of voices. It’s a lot of white guys from the United States right now. I think it’s going to be a way to record and hear each other’s stories internationally.
I think it actually has the potential to bring people together and even countries together. Not the UN, but just to a point where people understand each other. I think a guy in Iraq, who has survived all the stuff that has happened, would be an interesting story. I’d like to hear that guy’s story, of what it was like to live with Hussein, what it’s like to live now, or whatever. So there’s a variety of stories out there that need to be told.
Unfiltered stories – real people talking about their real lives.
EB: Future plans for Verge of the Fringe -- what do you have in mind?
LA: Keep on doing new content, surprising people. I’ve got some stories in the queue that I think people are going to be surprised about, like, “Wow – how come you didn’t lead with that story?”
I’m building an audience every week. Every week my numbers are going up. Every week I’m getting new people. It’s international – South Africa and Australia, Scotland, the UK, the Netherlands. I’m really excited about it, and one of the things that I’m want to do is help promote the art of storytelling. Or forget the art – the act of storytelling.
I’ve been up and stage, and I’ve got a certain vibe to what I do, but I believe anybody – if they’re enthusiastic about what happened to them – can tell a good story. We’ve all done it when we’ve talked to our mom on the phone or whatever. I really want to promote storytelling as a way to communicate to a larger audience.
The truth is that we’re more alike than we are different. I think through stories we learn that.
EB: Where do you see podcasting going in general?
LA: At the end of the day, this what I love about it. If Adam Curry’s not into what I’m doing, or Infinity or Clear Channel, I can still do my act. None of those people can stop me. Nobody can stop me! And that’s the beauty of podcasting. That’s what people will tune into – not just with my show but with their own lives, their own interests. And nobody can you say you can’t do it. You can do it.
EB: What are some of your favorite podcasts that are out there right now?
LA: A new one I really love is the Tartan Podcast. It’s a guy in Scotland – he’s playing cool music, Scottish music. He also does some storytelling. I think he’s actually doing to do his own storytelling show that’s separate from his music show. I mentioned The Bitterest Pill, Dan’s show. He’s really top-notch, a real pro, but still accessible and still doing it on the homegrown level. So I think people can learn a lot by listening to his show. Reel Reviews is an excellent show. Viva Podcast is a cool show. So there’s a couple there that I do listen to on a regular basis.
And I’m starting to listen to your show.
EB: Thank you very much. You mention some of the people out there who have been influential to you. Who specifically has been influential to you in terms of podcasting?
LA: Going back to Adam Curry, there’s a lot of controversy but the truth of the matter is that the guy has done a lot to create this opportunity for people. I listen to the Daily Source Code here and there, and he’s out there experimenting with stuff, trying new things, software and stuff. He’s in the trenches. You can say whatever you want, but he’s in the trenches. So I’m certainly learning from him.
Really, I’m learning a bit from everybody. You listen to a show and you take a little bit from it. Even your show – I listened to it and thought, “You know, it would be great if I could do a show and talk about pop culture, have a phone conversation, argue Goodfellas versus The Godfather.” You know, that kind of stuff. I would just love to do that.
So, just listening to other people’s show and gathering ideas and sharing ideas and supporting ideas.
I met up with Lance recently at a Pasadena coffee house to chat about his origins in stand-up comedy, his transition to storytelling and later to podcasting, and the power and potential that the phenomenon of podcasting brings.
For the full-length version of this interview, check out Dumpster Bust Radio: Podcast #6 for the first half, and DB Radio #7 for the second.
For a quick explainer on podcasts and podcasting, click here.
Check out Verge of the Fringe here.
<<<<<>>>>>
Eric Berlin: How did you get involved with podcasting?
Lance Anderson: Well, I was a storyteller – I still am a storyteller – and I’ve been telling stories live on stage for years.
Dan Klass, of The Bitterest Pill, told me pretty early on that there’s this thing going on out there called podcasting. I had no idea what he was talking about. He said, “It would be perfect for you – you can tell your stories.” We’ve worked together over the past ten years, and he knows the situation I’ve been in. For show business, my stuff isn’t “stand-up comedy” enough. For things like This American Life, they say there’s too many jokes. So I don’t really fit anywhere.
So Dan had me on his show a couple of times, and we did some stuff together, which I thought was pretty cool. And maybe we’ll do some stuff in the future together – I hope! But he just told me about it and kind of got me hooked up and I got rolling. And I love it.
It’s just a fantastic thing, podcasting. I think it’s really cool and it’s going to get bigger and bigger.
EB: So what exactly is a storyteller?
LA: I would say that storyteller is kind of broad term in the same way that spoken word is a broad term. But for storytelling, I see it everywhere, even in the “couples shows” that I see in podcasting. And it’s basically when you’re not focused on telling a joke, you’re focused on telling a story. And maybe it’s funny, and maybe you put things in there that you know are going to generate laughs. But it’s not about that. It’s about the story itself.
It’s taking the focus away from the short-term goal of the laugh. You know, six or seven a minute for stand-up. I might talk for three or four minutes, but there might be a big laugh at the end of this bit that I’m doing. So the focus is changed from just getting the laughs to telling a story.
EB: How did you get from there to Verge of the Fringe?
LA: In my description, I say that I live somewhere between the verge of success and the Bohemian fringe of Hollywood. To me, it’s a play on words obviously: I’m really like on the verge of the fringe. Not really on the verge of success, but more like being on the verge of being a fringe person my whole life.
Podcasting is kind of fringe, but it’s fringe in a good way. It’s fringe because we can do unfiltered material, and it doesn’t have or need to have that corporate stamp of approval. We can just be real. And the one thing that people see, whether it’s storytelling or anything, is that it’s real people. It’s like, there’s a real person back there! There’s not some corporate thing, where we’re supposed to sound a certain way, and that’s the appeal to it. Including your show – there’s a person behind it.
EB: I think it’s the Bohemian fringe of media, which is a different thing and attracts those kinds of people, doesn’t it?
LA: Totally, and I think that’s where it’s going.
EB: You’ve mentioned stand-up comedy a little bit. How’d you make the decision that it wasn’t for you and that you were more of a storyteller?
LA: I trace a lot of it back to when I saw the film Swimming to Cambodia. I think I saw it in about 1986 or 1987. I was in college up at Humboldt State University, and I saw that and I said, “You know what? That’s what I want to do.” I knew of Spalding Gray from watching David Letterman but I hadn’t really seen his act. And after I saw it I realized that that’s what I wanted to do: I wanted to tell stories.
I didn’t know how to do it and I didn’t have a forum to do it. But I knew I wanted to perform material so I knew there was stand-up comedy. So I started writing jokes and I tried to do stand-up comedy for about a year, and my heart wasn’t really in it. It’s like that thing I was talking about earlier where it was just about the laughs. And I wanted to tell these stories. So through a couple of year battle of figuring out how to do this and going back up to school, I finally decided that I was going to get up on stage and tell stories.
So that’s where I started. I started telling stories around 1990 or so, and I love doing that.
EB: I think that your storytelling style resonates with a lot of people. How did you develop that style? And particularly, you have a very clean format on your podcast in which you have an introduction where you talk a little bit, and then you go right into a story.
LA: I didn’t know how I was going to format it. I just experimented with it that way the first time or second time and thought that it kind of works. On what I call my pre-ramble, I thank people, talk about some podcasting news, and then go into the story.
I am a little bit limited by that because I feel like people expect that, and I want to continue to provide that. So I will have to venture out to some more pop culture-oriented things like you’re doing, which I’m interested in.
EB: How do you put each show together?
LA: Basically, I start with the story. For instance, the piece I did called “No, I Didn’t Even Kiss Her.” I’ve told that a bunch of times on stage. And I said, “You know what? I’ll break it up into three parts.” Which was kind of a different way for me to do that.
So right then I had three shows. And then it just became about whatever I was going to say in the pre-ramble beforehand, and that’s just based on – at least early on – I was able to thank pretty much everyone who had gotten a hold of me through an e-mail or a comment.
This is my little art project in a way. I’m a storyteller, and hopefully it’s kind of smart and cool and people like it. People are liking it – that’s the whole thing that’s insane, that people are really starting to dig it. So far people have been really kind and generous to me.
EB: Do you have prepared notes that you speak from while you’re recording your show?
LA: For my stories, I’m not using any notes right now. I’ve used notes even when I’m on stage sometimes, but for this I’m just going casual. That’s not to say I won’t use bullet points, but I certainly won’t read, and I think anyone who listens to the show knows that.
It’s freeform. I’m reliving the story, and one of the comments I get from people is that it feels like it’s a friend talking to you at the bar or the coffee house or whatever. And I just try and tell it like I’m talking to somebody and not get over-the-top. Like, “Hey, this funny thing happened to me,” while you’re driving in the car or whatever. “This funny thing happened…” And by the time this guy has told the story, you’re twenty miles down the road and the time has flown by. That’s kind of the premise of it.
EB: A recent show you did called “The Pope of Podcasting” was the first I had heard and I was really struck by it. If I’m not incorrect, my takeaway from that story is that each person has the power to enact positive change on the world.
LA: I think so, yeah. I hope so. I believe in podcasting. I think it’s a great thing. I believe that right now, it needs more diversity of voices. It’s a lot of white guys from the United States right now. I think it’s going to be a way to record and hear each other’s stories internationally.
I think it actually has the potential to bring people together and even countries together. Not the UN, but just to a point where people understand each other. I think a guy in Iraq, who has survived all the stuff that has happened, would be an interesting story. I’d like to hear that guy’s story, of what it was like to live with Hussein, what it’s like to live now, or whatever. So there’s a variety of stories out there that need to be told.
Unfiltered stories – real people talking about their real lives.
EB: Future plans for Verge of the Fringe -- what do you have in mind?
LA: Keep on doing new content, surprising people. I’ve got some stories in the queue that I think people are going to be surprised about, like, “Wow – how come you didn’t lead with that story?”
I’m building an audience every week. Every week my numbers are going up. Every week I’m getting new people. It’s international – South Africa and Australia, Scotland, the UK, the Netherlands. I’m really excited about it, and one of the things that I’m want to do is help promote the art of storytelling. Or forget the art – the act of storytelling.
I’ve been up and stage, and I’ve got a certain vibe to what I do, but I believe anybody – if they’re enthusiastic about what happened to them – can tell a good story. We’ve all done it when we’ve talked to our mom on the phone or whatever. I really want to promote storytelling as a way to communicate to a larger audience.
The truth is that we’re more alike than we are different. I think through stories we learn that.
EB: Where do you see podcasting going in general?
LA: At the end of the day, this what I love about it. If Adam Curry’s not into what I’m doing, or Infinity or Clear Channel, I can still do my act. None of those people can stop me. Nobody can stop me! And that’s the beauty of podcasting. That’s what people will tune into – not just with my show but with their own lives, their own interests. And nobody can you say you can’t do it. You can do it.
EB: What are some of your favorite podcasts that are out there right now?
LA: A new one I really love is the Tartan Podcast. It’s a guy in Scotland – he’s playing cool music, Scottish music. He also does some storytelling. I think he’s actually doing to do his own storytelling show that’s separate from his music show. I mentioned The Bitterest Pill, Dan’s show. He’s really top-notch, a real pro, but still accessible and still doing it on the homegrown level. So I think people can learn a lot by listening to his show. Reel Reviews is an excellent show. Viva Podcast is a cool show. So there’s a couple there that I do listen to on a regular basis.
And I’m starting to listen to your show.
EB: Thank you very much. You mention some of the people out there who have been influential to you. Who specifically has been influential to you in terms of podcasting?
LA: Going back to Adam Curry, there’s a lot of controversy but the truth of the matter is that the guy has done a lot to create this opportunity for people. I listen to the Daily Source Code here and there, and he’s out there experimenting with stuff, trying new things, software and stuff. He’s in the trenches. You can say whatever you want, but he’s in the trenches. So I’m certainly learning from him.
Really, I’m learning a bit from everybody. You listen to a show and you take a little bit from it. Even your show – I listened to it and thought, “You know, it would be great if I could do a show and talk about pop culture, have a phone conversation, argue Goodfellas versus The Godfather.” You know, that kind of stuff. I would just love to do that.
So, just listening to other people’s show and gathering ideas and sharing ideas and supporting ideas.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
The Duke: Mayday - What Happened To The Student Left?
You ready for another Guest Column by the Duke? I know I am...
The Duke resides at Mondo Irlando - "Fucking great" - Karl Marx
Hear The Duke's Latest Net-Record Right Here On Blogcritics!
The Duke reigns in Northern Ireland, by the way.
<<<<<>>>>>
Couple days ago a friend was telling me about a conversation overheard whilst queuing for the ATM machine in the local Student's Union.
"What the hell is Mayday, anyroad?" asked Student A.
"I dunno", replied Student B. "Probably something to do with some saint or somethin'."
We chuckled for a time. Then wept. Long and fucking hard.
Used to be, a fella would get up on Mayday morning, i. the hell e. International Workers Day, put on a nice suit and head downstairs for to stand to attention for a rendition of The Red Flag. This being the 29th century or whatever, I didn't need to go find myself a traveling socialist bard, just a couple clicks on the ol' Personal PC and a man's ears were tingling with the stirring lament.
Sod that "O Christmas Tree" version. One airing of the Billy Bragg rendition from off of The Internationale and a fella never looked back.
"The people's flag is deepest red,
It shrouded oft our Martyrs dead!"
Those thudding drums, that delirious tin whistle, Billy's rousing holler, it all made a fella feel safe in the knowledge that whatever the hell was going on, however sickening New Labour had turned out to be, at least us filthy reds had something wonderful for to dance to in the streets.
And there was plenty dancing in the streets. Students taking to Westminster, folks smashing the hell outta MacDonalds windows, other folks blocking the motorways in peaceful protest and getting kicked senseless by the filth. All that good stuff.
Not that The Duke was involved in the old "riots" and the like, but certainly from my subversive bunker in The Northern Irelands plenty tins were opened and discarded as these radical festivities unfolded in London.
The student types, they were all there. They'd read enough Marx, or at least carried about enough copies of Das Kapital in the hope of someone seeing them, to know a thing or two about revolution, and maybe even economics if they bothered cracking the thing open at all.
If they could be counted on for nothing else, and fuck knows they can't, at least the students could be counted on for to disrupt the establishment a tad on Mayday.
I gotta say, man, my guts dropped a little when I browsed the old News Sites this morning.
Oxford Students… began one headline, and after thinking how odd it might be that the most privileged sonsabitches in the country should be the ones making the headlines today, I scanned on through the article.
Turned out, the only student disruption to have made the news on Mayday 2005 was a buncha stupid drunken arseholes at Oxford getting plastered and jumping from a 25ft high bridge into 3ft of water. It's a "tradition" apparently.
I remember, man. I remember when a buncha similarly plastered arseholes were stood around the cenotaph, spray-painting the bejeesus outta Churchill's head on account of The Dissent. I remember staging a bout of the old Invisible Theater in protest of the imminent Iraq War, a bout of fisticuffs in the middle of the street, and all in the name of getting a couple issues raised.
What it was, was The Duke was "anti-war", making kafuffle with a couple "pro-war" types stood behind a table asking folks to sign a letter supporting Mr Blair in his decision. Staged, yet connecting, punches were flung. Folks gasped. What the fuck is this crazy voodoo bullshit, anyhow, they asked?
The police intervened, one of whom took me aside and said something along the lines of "Let's face it, there's gonna be no war. Those guys are kidding themselves. I don't think they'll get much support."
Shows how much the police know.
I had to give up the old political shindiggery around that time, though, had to leave The Socialist Party an' all sorts, on account of my skull was swimming in demented alcoholic pish and I couldn't convince myself to get out the fucking bed in the morning, never mind convince folks that term-time workers should be getting a fairer deal. "Meetings" I arranged descended into drunken farce.
And anyway, the left was in good hands. Look at all those student protests in Belfast, for Gods sakes.
I dunno that I got particularly apathetic with regards it all. I dunno that I could be bothered. But certainly I became less active, to a point where, really, a man shot in the guts and left dead and rotting in the Arizona sun would be engaging in more political daring-do than yours truly. Who the fuck has time for to debate The War For Oil when look here, The War Of The Buttons just got issued on DVD.
This year, though, it felt right for to engage in things a bit more. Maybe because the personal side of things was much steadier (despite the wretched, drawn-out, bitter dissolution of a five-year engagement. Fucking hell, The Duke, when are you gonna shut up about that anyhow? When I cack Lucas' lungs out my arsehole, most likely), or maybe just because it felt like things were truly reaching some sort of boiling point. Whatever the reason, a fella got to thinking and debating, even if that's as far as it ever went. Thinking and debating are important, I've concluded.
And the point to be made, is that The Duke wasn't the only one.
I mean look around you, man. Look at the number of political documentaries making the top ten lists. Look at the number of political books clogging up Waterstones displays. Look at the number of political records sitting atop the charts. Look at the Radio 1 playlist, for Gods sakes. Just last night I heard When The President Talks To God by Bright Eyes played on BBC Radio Ulster, complete with the "Does he ever smell his own bullshit!" line.
Look at the hoopla last year when everyone was convinced Monkey-Boy Bush was gonna get kicked the hell outta office, and made it known as best was possible, sometimes with a catchy chorus, that nothing less than his imminent removal would suffice. Listen to that sigh when those numbers came in.
But dig this also, would you ever;
This is an election year right here in the UK. This week, in fact, is election week. Mayday falls in the same week as a general election, and the streets are quiet. Instead of acting moronic on account of political beliefs, students are busy acting fucking moronic and jumping off of bridges into water as shallow as their reading lists.
I can only conclude something along the lines of something like this;
There is no Student Left in the UK anymore, or at least none that's gonna worry anyone.
Increase the price of a pint by a penny and they'll march from here to Tibet. Give them the opportunity of voting for one wretched motherfucker over another, and they get drunk and jump off bridges like lemmings in some ghastly John Belushi nightmare. If they were doing it outta despair maybe I'd at least commiserate.
So how come, then, after the initial disappointment, and surprise, when flicking through this mornings news, I came away smiling to myself?
Maybe on account of something along the lines of - So the fuck what? The world has changed a lot in the last five years, and for the better.
Examples? I shit 'em.
The latest fashion craze here in The Northern Ireland involves the wearing of multi-colored wrist-bands advocating various causes. Cider-soaked hoodlums are going about their business whilst showing solidarity, however fickle, with anything from Aids Awareness to Make Poverty History.
People are buying those political records, otherwise the radio wouldn't fucking touch them, at least no radio that doesn't feature buggery and Pot Noodle sex on a regular basis.
Folks are seeing these films, and reading these books, and yacking in pubs about "Yeah, that Moore knows the score" or "The score? He knows less than fuck, is what he knows. What does he know? He knows nothing." Whatever the stance, folks are talking about it.
So what if students are more concerned with a coke-laced fuck in a car-park? Who the hell cares? The politicized student of the 1980's was a myth then and a joke now. For sure, learn stuff, read stuff, read whatever the hell you want, I don't care. It's when the folks who aren't being told to discuss these things start discussing them that a fella gets to grin a tad.
There's a politicized tint to the air that makes a fella feel all the optimistic in the world, even when resenting like hell the fact that I have to go to a booth on Thursday and choose between reactionary prick A and reactionary prick B.
The reason there weren't no Whitechapel riots today was, I would suggest like all hell, because folks have moved a bit further on. Bar an entertaining night's news, what the hell did those MacDonalds smashing antics achieve? Who has time to do that now? We're too busy visiting those Fair Trade stores, too busy turning Fahrenheit 9/11 into Prime-Time Event T.V. Too busy singing along with Willy Mason. Too busy reading about The Corporation.
Who are you gonna listen to? Who you gonna take seriously? The person hollering drunkenly whilst flinging horseshit at Buckingham Palace (as Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty and Martin Tomlinson from Selfish Cunt got up to a few months back, although, granted, they were aiming the shit at each other) or the person who's informed and knows what's going on, and wants to discuss it articulately?
Which I, I am aware, have spectacularly failed to do.
But no matter. The Times They Are A-Changing, somebody said one time. I think it was Donovan.
There's no need for empty sloganeering on the street. In the houses and the pubs and the cafes, there's political debate going on that means something.
However, as with any period of increased liberal thinking, there's gonna be a buncha right-wing fucking maniacs hollering that little bit louder. There's tension in plenty places, the British National Party and their army of swill-skulled barbarians are trying their best to gain a foothold anywhere impoverished and desperate enough to offer them a chance. The White National Party are recruiting kids here in the Northern Irelands through sectarianism and misinformation.
But they are the minority. And that right there gives a fella a reason to smile.
But it's just gone 4 a.m and I got some thinking to do regarding The Cat's Meow.
Thank you Kirsten.
Thanks folks.
The Duke resides at Mondo Irlando - "Fucking great" - Karl Marx
Hear The Duke's Latest Net-Record Right Here On Blogcritics!
The Duke reigns in Northern Ireland, by the way.
<<<<<>>>>>
Couple days ago a friend was telling me about a conversation overheard whilst queuing for the ATM machine in the local Student's Union.
"What the hell is Mayday, anyroad?" asked Student A.
"I dunno", replied Student B. "Probably something to do with some saint or somethin'."
We chuckled for a time. Then wept. Long and fucking hard.
Used to be, a fella would get up on Mayday morning, i. the hell e. International Workers Day, put on a nice suit and head downstairs for to stand to attention for a rendition of The Red Flag. This being the 29th century or whatever, I didn't need to go find myself a traveling socialist bard, just a couple clicks on the ol' Personal PC and a man's ears were tingling with the stirring lament.
Sod that "O Christmas Tree" version. One airing of the Billy Bragg rendition from off of The Internationale and a fella never looked back.
"The people's flag is deepest red,
It shrouded oft our Martyrs dead!"
Those thudding drums, that delirious tin whistle, Billy's rousing holler, it all made a fella feel safe in the knowledge that whatever the hell was going on, however sickening New Labour had turned out to be, at least us filthy reds had something wonderful for to dance to in the streets.
And there was plenty dancing in the streets. Students taking to Westminster, folks smashing the hell outta MacDonalds windows, other folks blocking the motorways in peaceful protest and getting kicked senseless by the filth. All that good stuff.
Not that The Duke was involved in the old "riots" and the like, but certainly from my subversive bunker in The Northern Irelands plenty tins were opened and discarded as these radical festivities unfolded in London.
The student types, they were all there. They'd read enough Marx, or at least carried about enough copies of Das Kapital in the hope of someone seeing them, to know a thing or two about revolution, and maybe even economics if they bothered cracking the thing open at all.
If they could be counted on for nothing else, and fuck knows they can't, at least the students could be counted on for to disrupt the establishment a tad on Mayday.
I gotta say, man, my guts dropped a little when I browsed the old News Sites this morning.
Oxford Students… began one headline, and after thinking how odd it might be that the most privileged sonsabitches in the country should be the ones making the headlines today, I scanned on through the article.
Turned out, the only student disruption to have made the news on Mayday 2005 was a buncha stupid drunken arseholes at Oxford getting plastered and jumping from a 25ft high bridge into 3ft of water. It's a "tradition" apparently.
I remember, man. I remember when a buncha similarly plastered arseholes were stood around the cenotaph, spray-painting the bejeesus outta Churchill's head on account of The Dissent. I remember staging a bout of the old Invisible Theater in protest of the imminent Iraq War, a bout of fisticuffs in the middle of the street, and all in the name of getting a couple issues raised.
What it was, was The Duke was "anti-war", making kafuffle with a couple "pro-war" types stood behind a table asking folks to sign a letter supporting Mr Blair in his decision. Staged, yet connecting, punches were flung. Folks gasped. What the fuck is this crazy voodoo bullshit, anyhow, they asked?
The police intervened, one of whom took me aside and said something along the lines of "Let's face it, there's gonna be no war. Those guys are kidding themselves. I don't think they'll get much support."
Shows how much the police know.
I had to give up the old political shindiggery around that time, though, had to leave The Socialist Party an' all sorts, on account of my skull was swimming in demented alcoholic pish and I couldn't convince myself to get out the fucking bed in the morning, never mind convince folks that term-time workers should be getting a fairer deal. "Meetings" I arranged descended into drunken farce.
And anyway, the left was in good hands. Look at all those student protests in Belfast, for Gods sakes.
I dunno that I got particularly apathetic with regards it all. I dunno that I could be bothered. But certainly I became less active, to a point where, really, a man shot in the guts and left dead and rotting in the Arizona sun would be engaging in more political daring-do than yours truly. Who the fuck has time for to debate The War For Oil when look here, The War Of The Buttons just got issued on DVD.
This year, though, it felt right for to engage in things a bit more. Maybe because the personal side of things was much steadier (despite the wretched, drawn-out, bitter dissolution of a five-year engagement. Fucking hell, The Duke, when are you gonna shut up about that anyhow? When I cack Lucas' lungs out my arsehole, most likely), or maybe just because it felt like things were truly reaching some sort of boiling point. Whatever the reason, a fella got to thinking and debating, even if that's as far as it ever went. Thinking and debating are important, I've concluded.
And the point to be made, is that The Duke wasn't the only one.
I mean look around you, man. Look at the number of political documentaries making the top ten lists. Look at the number of political books clogging up Waterstones displays. Look at the number of political records sitting atop the charts. Look at the Radio 1 playlist, for Gods sakes. Just last night I heard When The President Talks To God by Bright Eyes played on BBC Radio Ulster, complete with the "Does he ever smell his own bullshit!" line.
Look at the hoopla last year when everyone was convinced Monkey-Boy Bush was gonna get kicked the hell outta office, and made it known as best was possible, sometimes with a catchy chorus, that nothing less than his imminent removal would suffice. Listen to that sigh when those numbers came in.
But dig this also, would you ever;
This is an election year right here in the UK. This week, in fact, is election week. Mayday falls in the same week as a general election, and the streets are quiet. Instead of acting moronic on account of political beliefs, students are busy acting fucking moronic and jumping off of bridges into water as shallow as their reading lists.
I can only conclude something along the lines of something like this;
There is no Student Left in the UK anymore, or at least none that's gonna worry anyone.
Increase the price of a pint by a penny and they'll march from here to Tibet. Give them the opportunity of voting for one wretched motherfucker over another, and they get drunk and jump off bridges like lemmings in some ghastly John Belushi nightmare. If they were doing it outta despair maybe I'd at least commiserate.
So how come, then, after the initial disappointment, and surprise, when flicking through this mornings news, I came away smiling to myself?
Maybe on account of something along the lines of - So the fuck what? The world has changed a lot in the last five years, and for the better.
Examples? I shit 'em.
The latest fashion craze here in The Northern Ireland involves the wearing of multi-colored wrist-bands advocating various causes. Cider-soaked hoodlums are going about their business whilst showing solidarity, however fickle, with anything from Aids Awareness to Make Poverty History.
People are buying those political records, otherwise the radio wouldn't fucking touch them, at least no radio that doesn't feature buggery and Pot Noodle sex on a regular basis.
Folks are seeing these films, and reading these books, and yacking in pubs about "Yeah, that Moore knows the score" or "The score? He knows less than fuck, is what he knows. What does he know? He knows nothing." Whatever the stance, folks are talking about it.
So what if students are more concerned with a coke-laced fuck in a car-park? Who the hell cares? The politicized student of the 1980's was a myth then and a joke now. For sure, learn stuff, read stuff, read whatever the hell you want, I don't care. It's when the folks who aren't being told to discuss these things start discussing them that a fella gets to grin a tad.
There's a politicized tint to the air that makes a fella feel all the optimistic in the world, even when resenting like hell the fact that I have to go to a booth on Thursday and choose between reactionary prick A and reactionary prick B.
The reason there weren't no Whitechapel riots today was, I would suggest like all hell, because folks have moved a bit further on. Bar an entertaining night's news, what the hell did those MacDonalds smashing antics achieve? Who has time to do that now? We're too busy visiting those Fair Trade stores, too busy turning Fahrenheit 9/11 into Prime-Time Event T.V. Too busy singing along with Willy Mason. Too busy reading about The Corporation.
Who are you gonna listen to? Who you gonna take seriously? The person hollering drunkenly whilst flinging horseshit at Buckingham Palace (as Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty and Martin Tomlinson from Selfish Cunt got up to a few months back, although, granted, they were aiming the shit at each other) or the person who's informed and knows what's going on, and wants to discuss it articulately?
Which I, I am aware, have spectacularly failed to do.
But no matter. The Times They Are A-Changing, somebody said one time. I think it was Donovan.
There's no need for empty sloganeering on the street. In the houses and the pubs and the cafes, there's political debate going on that means something.
However, as with any period of increased liberal thinking, there's gonna be a buncha right-wing fucking maniacs hollering that little bit louder. There's tension in plenty places, the British National Party and their army of swill-skulled barbarians are trying their best to gain a foothold anywhere impoverished and desperate enough to offer them a chance. The White National Party are recruiting kids here in the Northern Irelands through sectarianism and misinformation.
But they are the minority. And that right there gives a fella a reason to smile.
But it's just gone 4 a.m and I got some thinking to do regarding The Cat's Meow.
Thank you Kirsten.
Thanks folks.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Dumpster Bust Radio: Podcast #7
It’s all ready for you right here. All you need do is click and listen:
Dumpster Bust Radio: Podcast #7
This week, DB Radio delves into the murky waters of politics for the first time. What was found, you ask? Big Picture ruminations and squeaky-clean muckraking of the highest order. What in the good hell does that mean, you ask? Not really sure, actually. But tune in to make your own judgments, Mr. Snarky.
Oh: and we have the second part of our interview with Lance Anderson of Verge of the Fringe fame. Super cool guy, super excellent podcaster and storyteller of the highest order – one of the more popular ones out there to boot. Check out all the new verge-y fringe type stuff here.
DB Radio #7 Presents
Introduction
I’m back in the bowels of my apartment building’s parking garage, it’s late at night, and I have my green tea at the ready. And that means one thing and one thing only: it’s party time.
Keeping It Real Politik: Scandal, Iraq, Bad News Reforms, & The Big Picture
I take the political situation Big Picture and ask why 57% of the American people now believe the war/reconstruction in Iraq is not worth fighting.
Featured Song #1
“Breakwater” - Intuition
It’s a little like No Doubt, but no doubt you’ll dig it all the more.
Interview: Lance Anderson of Verge of the Fringe
Part II of an interview with the storyteller-podcaster extraordinaire, which took place outside a Peet’s Coffee in Pasadena on the most beauteous of days.
Featured Song #2
“YOINK!” - Charlie Pathetic
This ska-punkish type number will YOINK! you out your very undergarments.
Track Listing for Dumpster Bust Radio #7
Dumpster Bust Radio runs podsafe music in the background whilst I yabber, Along with the Featured Songs, the idea is to promote awesome indie music and emerging artists and also to give everyone a break from my tortured vocal yelping every now and again.
Track #1 (Show Intro) “Black Star” – Apash
#2 “Razor Sharp” – Collide
#3 “Bolero (Live Version)” – Sandalov’s Balalaika
#4 (Featured Song) “Breakwater” - Intuition
#5 (Featured Song) “YOINK!” - Charlie Pathetic
#6 (Show Outro) “Blue Bird Tattoo” – Circe Link
Subscribe to DB Radio!
Our site feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DumpsterBust
To download the free software needed to subscribe to podcasts, click here.
Of course, you can just click the link at the top of this page and listen away! The power is Yours. This I command.
Support DB Radio!
If you like the show or are merely a kindly soul, go to Podcast Alley and vote for DB Radio! If you're not a member, simply submit your vote, and then click a link on a subsequent e-mail to verify. It's almost really really easy!
Dumpster Bust Radio: Podcast #7
This week, DB Radio delves into the murky waters of politics for the first time. What was found, you ask? Big Picture ruminations and squeaky-clean muckraking of the highest order. What in the good hell does that mean, you ask? Not really sure, actually. But tune in to make your own judgments, Mr. Snarky.
Oh: and we have the second part of our interview with Lance Anderson of Verge of the Fringe fame. Super cool guy, super excellent podcaster and storyteller of the highest order – one of the more popular ones out there to boot. Check out all the new verge-y fringe type stuff here.
DB Radio #7 Presents
Introduction
I’m back in the bowels of my apartment building’s parking garage, it’s late at night, and I have my green tea at the ready. And that means one thing and one thing only: it’s party time.
Keeping It Real Politik: Scandal, Iraq, Bad News Reforms, & The Big Picture
I take the political situation Big Picture and ask why 57% of the American people now believe the war/reconstruction in Iraq is not worth fighting.
Featured Song #1
“Breakwater” - Intuition
It’s a little like No Doubt, but no doubt you’ll dig it all the more.
Interview: Lance Anderson of Verge of the Fringe
Part II of an interview with the storyteller-podcaster extraordinaire, which took place outside a Peet’s Coffee in Pasadena on the most beauteous of days.
Featured Song #2
“YOINK!” - Charlie Pathetic
This ska-punkish type number will YOINK! you out your very undergarments.
Track Listing for Dumpster Bust Radio #7
Dumpster Bust Radio runs podsafe music in the background whilst I yabber, Along with the Featured Songs, the idea is to promote awesome indie music and emerging artists and also to give everyone a break from my tortured vocal yelping every now and again.
Track #1 (Show Intro) “Black Star” – Apash
#2 “Razor Sharp” – Collide
#3 “Bolero (Live Version)” – Sandalov’s Balalaika
#4 (Featured Song) “Breakwater” - Intuition
#5 (Featured Song) “YOINK!” - Charlie Pathetic
#6 (Show Outro) “Blue Bird Tattoo” – Circe Link
Subscribe to DB Radio!
Our site feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DumpsterBust
To download the free software needed to subscribe to podcasts, click here.
Of course, you can just click the link at the top of this page and listen away! The power is Yours. This I command.
Support DB Radio!
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Monday, May 09, 2005
The Contender (NBC) and Jesse Brinkley Get Their Knockout On
The fights keep getting better each week. Maybe it’s because we’ve come to know the contenders fairly well by now, as this week wrapped up the end of the second round. Perhaps it’s because the level of competition continues to rise.
All I know is that the climactic fight between Jesse Brinkley and Anthony “The Bullet” Bonsante was one of the most exciting sporting events (heavily and cleverly edited though it was) I have ever seen.
All the signs were there from the outset. Brinkley had been resting on his laurels since his early first round victory, taking care to mess with other fighter’s heads and form alliances during his time off. Couple that with a hamstring tweak during a recent physical challenge and the need to lose eight pounds to make weight in one day (by the way: where do I get me one of those sweat suits?) and Brinkley looked like he might be in trouble.
Bonsante, on the other hand, has been a one-man daddy-a-thon since the outset (see: his victory during the epic Kids vs. God match-up in Round One). Every third or fourth word out of his mouth is “kids” or “daddy” or “father.” His physical ministrations include adjusting his “#1 Daddy” hat and wiping tears from his eyes. That said, he translates this emotion into some kind of psychotic stampede in the ring that is downright frightening.
Brinkley observed that Bonsante doesn’t box, he fights.
Brinkley did not mention that Bonsante is the guy that you would discreetly make for the nearest exit for if you happened to catch him staring at you in a public place.
Many of the five-round fights up until now have been a seesaw battle: one guy looks like he’s winning, then tires as the other fighter stages a comeback. Almost every week, the fifth and final round has ascended to an all-out war between men with great hearts and mighty fists.
This week’s fight was that exactly that, and more. Bonsante, scrapping any semblance of discipline, landed dozens of bruising blows on the smaller, shaky-looking Brinkley well into the fourth round. It looked as though Brinkley would have to turn things around with an unlikely knockout in the fifth round to advance.
And he did.
A timely uppercut to the charging Bonsante’s chin laid him out on the canvas, a devastating and classic blow that turned around the entire fight. Bonsante was done at that point, though it took another 30 or so seconds for the fight to be called.
In the end, the Kids could only go so far.
Now we’re left with Brinkley, Peter Manfredo, Mora (The Latin Snake), and Gomez. All worthy fighters going after the $1 million prize in Las Vegas.
This is getting really really good.
All I know is that the climactic fight between Jesse Brinkley and Anthony “The Bullet” Bonsante was one of the most exciting sporting events (heavily and cleverly edited though it was) I have ever seen.
All the signs were there from the outset. Brinkley had been resting on his laurels since his early first round victory, taking care to mess with other fighter’s heads and form alliances during his time off. Couple that with a hamstring tweak during a recent physical challenge and the need to lose eight pounds to make weight in one day (by the way: where do I get me one of those sweat suits?) and Brinkley looked like he might be in trouble.
Bonsante, on the other hand, has been a one-man daddy-a-thon since the outset (see: his victory during the epic Kids vs. God match-up in Round One). Every third or fourth word out of his mouth is “kids” or “daddy” or “father.” His physical ministrations include adjusting his “#1 Daddy” hat and wiping tears from his eyes. That said, he translates this emotion into some kind of psychotic stampede in the ring that is downright frightening.
Brinkley observed that Bonsante doesn’t box, he fights.
Brinkley did not mention that Bonsante is the guy that you would discreetly make for the nearest exit for if you happened to catch him staring at you in a public place.
Many of the five-round fights up until now have been a seesaw battle: one guy looks like he’s winning, then tires as the other fighter stages a comeback. Almost every week, the fifth and final round has ascended to an all-out war between men with great hearts and mighty fists.
This week’s fight was that exactly that, and more. Bonsante, scrapping any semblance of discipline, landed dozens of bruising blows on the smaller, shaky-looking Brinkley well into the fourth round. It looked as though Brinkley would have to turn things around with an unlikely knockout in the fifth round to advance.
And he did.
A timely uppercut to the charging Bonsante’s chin laid him out on the canvas, a devastating and classic blow that turned around the entire fight. Bonsante was done at that point, though it took another 30 or so seconds for the fight to be called.
In the end, the Kids could only go so far.
Now we’re left with Brinkley, Peter Manfredo, Mora (The Latin Snake), and Gomez. All worthy fighters going after the $1 million prize in Las Vegas.
This is getting really really good.
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Greg Smyth Reviews: Brendan Benson - The Alternative To Love
Our man on the UK music scene, Greg Smyth, is back. Check out his homeland at Swing Batter Batter!
<<<<<>>>>>
It doesn't hurt to be best mates with The White Stripes' Jack White. But don't leap to the erroneous conclusion that Brendan Benson is yet another dodgy garage rock veteran from Detroit because The Alternative To Love is a fantastic shimmering pop album that ripples with emotion.
Opener Spit It Out is prime 70s radio, evoking the likes of The Knack, with the kind of bombastic hip-shaking chorus that makes you long for long hot days and pool parties. It may be a disappointingly dreary spring in the real world but for Benson it's perennially summer. The Pledge is the finest stab at an alt-rock Be My Baby since Phil Spector threatened to shoot one of The Ramones and probably the closest thing we'll hear thanks to his current legal problems. Sure, there are downbeat moments, albeit served with a slick production sheen that on occasions sails comes close to overwhelming the material but for the most part it's the aural equivalent of having your brain smashed in with a slice of lemon.
The Alternative To Love is a stunning blast of sunshine to pierce through the drabbest of days; a hip blend of candy-floss and sparkling wit. It doesn't hurt being Brendan Benson's best mate; Jack White should know.
<<<<<>>>>>
It doesn't hurt to be best mates with The White Stripes' Jack White. But don't leap to the erroneous conclusion that Brendan Benson is yet another dodgy garage rock veteran from Detroit because The Alternative To Love is a fantastic shimmering pop album that ripples with emotion.
Opener Spit It Out is prime 70s radio, evoking the likes of The Knack, with the kind of bombastic hip-shaking chorus that makes you long for long hot days and pool parties. It may be a disappointingly dreary spring in the real world but for Benson it's perennially summer. The Pledge is the finest stab at an alt-rock Be My Baby since Phil Spector threatened to shoot one of The Ramones and probably the closest thing we'll hear thanks to his current legal problems. Sure, there are downbeat moments, albeit served with a slick production sheen that on occasions sails comes close to overwhelming the material but for the most part it's the aural equivalent of having your brain smashed in with a slice of lemon.
The Alternative To Love is a stunning blast of sunshine to pierce through the drabbest of days; a hip blend of candy-floss and sparkling wit. It doesn't hurt being Brendan Benson's best mate; Jack White should know.
Carnivale: Did HBO Declare Show's Over?
I just started watching Carnivale, the HBO show about a ragtag carnival scraping by in the 1930s Depression-era dustbowl days. In fact, I’ve only seen the first two episodes of the first season on DVD as I don’t get the fancy-schmancy cable-type channels.
But what I saw was wondrous: great characters, beautiful and strange depictions of rural Oklahoma and fertile California, and a storyline that had already put its claws around my story-hungry heart. Magic, mayhem, and madness lurked around and within the delightfully oddball characters, from the bearded lady down to the sad and wizened and diminutive ringleader. The first inklings of disastrous and magical events were just starting to take shape, and I rejoiced in knowing that I had latched onto a show that would be on agenda for a longtime to come.
Except not.
Rumors are now swirling that Carnivale has been put out to pasture after its second season on HBO.
From Ain’t It Cool News:
I used to think that the cancellation of quality shows that hadn’t quite found a wide audience was the domain of the broadcast networks. But, sadly, even the mighty HBO, it seems, is making a sacrifice to the mighty Gods of Ratings.
But what I saw was wondrous: great characters, beautiful and strange depictions of rural Oklahoma and fertile California, and a storyline that had already put its claws around my story-hungry heart. Magic, mayhem, and madness lurked around and within the delightfully oddball characters, from the bearded lady down to the sad and wizened and diminutive ringleader. The first inklings of disastrous and magical events were just starting to take shape, and I rejoiced in knowing that I had latched onto a show that would be on agenda for a longtime to come.
Except not.
Rumors are now swirling that Carnivale has been put out to pasture after its second season on HBO.
From Ain’t It Cool News:
Fans of Carnivale woke up this morning to some very bad news. Beth Blighton, trusted source of Carnycon and she-who-knows-all posted that an "unimpeachable source" had confirmed that Carnivale is being cancelled.
I used to think that the cancellation of quality shows that hadn’t quite found a wide audience was the domain of the broadcast networks. But, sadly, even the mighty HBO, it seems, is making a sacrifice to the mighty Gods of Ratings.
Friday, May 06, 2005
Cathode Ray Fray: The Week in TV – 5-06-05
As always, I take on the shows I watched during the week, and provide you with links to some of the other fine TV work going on at BlogCritics.org.
Lots of shows going into hibernation for the summer these days… will I latch onto new shows soon, or spend some time in the great outdoors?
Leave the Fray? Are you kidding?
Always obey the Ray, my children…
Overall take on the week:
Best show on television: Lost (grabs the top spot in its return!)
Upper-tier shows: Project Greenlight, The Shield, The Contender
Good, not great The Apprentice
Falling… just about off the radar: Trippin’, Alias
<<<<<>>>>>
Sunday
The Contender - NBC
Joey Gilbert ended up not being the Machiavellian threat he thought himself to be, losing to the tough but beatable Peter Manfredo, Jr. in the closing moments of a five-round bout. Unfortunately, the fight was stopped not due to a punch but rather an accidental head-butt that made Joey’s eye look as though it had just come face-to-face with a cross-town bus.
So Peter got the car thanks to Joey last week, and the win over Joey this week thanks to the fortuitous location of his forehead.
Such is the uncertainty of the boxer’s life.
Now let’s take a quick look at the remaining Contenders:
Jesse Brinkley and Anthony Bonsante are set to fight next week to finish up the second round and bring the competition down to its final four. Let’s look at them first.
Jesse Brinkley
He’s bald, he’s little, he’s quick and agile, and he’s kind of conniving and annoying.
And he just might have the qualities needed to pull off the whole shooting match. He certainly has the ego and the mental angle on his side, which he displayed to perfection this week in the house by psyching out a bewildered-looking Joey with “It’s just a game, fighting is” kind of talk.
Anthony Bonsante
He wears a #1 Daddy hat most of the time, and likes to talk about his kids, what it means to be a dad, the importance of being a parent to children, and the kind of dad (or father) a parent should be, particularly when one is a boxer and one is the father and/or parent of said children.
And so on.
The winner of the epic Kids v. God contest several weeks back, Bonsante has been hampered under a bad hammy which may make him an easy target next week in the ring against Jesse.
There’s something about Bonsante, though. Something kind of crazy. But not the good crazy, he’s gonna go nuts on him crazy kind of crazy.
More like the he’s looking at me through the television kind of weird and he’s talking about his kids way too much variety. So we’ll see.
Alfonso Gomez and Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora have already fought their way into the Final Four. Both are good and tough Latin fighters. While Mora employs classical philosophy, psychological warfare, and a flair for the dramatic reminiscent of the great Sugar Ray Leonard himself, Gomez is a dogged, rugged, and determined fighter with a strong punch and determined heart.
A Gomez and Mora finale would be a fine finale to watch, featuring two of the best fighters and decent souls in the competition. The clash of styles could produce a great ending to a fine first season for this reality series that is actually really real (for once).
Grey’s Anatomy - ABC
Erin McMaster waxes about tumors and Parkinson’s and Dr. Grey and such.
Monday
Trippin’ - MTV
I’m losing most of the faith that I had that this could turn into a quirky, fun little eco-adventure show that could help dull the pain of those Monday Night Blues.
This week involved hanging out in the beautiful Costa Rican jungle. Some rad surfing was done, and it was fun to watch Kid Rock rappel down a waterfall whilst gnawing on a cigar.
But that was about it.
American Idol - Fox
There is a mega-ton of American Idol talk this week, as always. I don’t subscribe to the madness myself, but check out the uber-post here.
24 - Fox
Jeff Kouba expounds on 24 and Dr. Spock and mind-melds.
I know I’m intrigued.
Tuesday
The Shield - FX
I find that I look forward to watching this cop drama more each week, and each week I’m rewarded for doing so. While there’s a certain degree of one-off cases that are dealt with down at The Farm, the great thing is that they usually help overall character development (Dutch and Wyms – played by the great pairing of Jay Karnes and CCH Pounder) beginning to heal old wounds during the capture of the Coffee Bandit) or the overall story arc (Antwon Mitchell and his various drug dealings and thug-ocity).
Even old Aceveda, who is, to paraphrase Ben Stiller in Dodge Ball, getting “freaky naughty” with his high-priced call girl, is fueling his anger and anxiety into blowing down the shaky foundation of Captain Rawling’s (Glen Close) property seizures program. Rawling, for her part, has moved to the hood to “make a difference,” to which Mackey (who has much bigger things on his mind) replies, “they won’t give a shit.”
But all of that pales in comparison to the tension building around the Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and Shane Vendrell (Walt Goggins) storyline. In other words: was Vendrell willing to kill Mackey to save his own ass with the vengeful, brutal Mitchell?
Key Moment:
One of the great dark/hilarious scenes in Pulp Fiction was played out when Vendrell’s anxious partner accidentally shoots one of Mitchell’s informants, which immediately brought a few of the great lines in cinema to my mind:
“Man, I don’t even have an opinion.”
“You just shot Martin in the face!”
Goggins has been outstanding this entire season, morphing from an addled crime lord with a badge to a vulnerable, scared family man scrambling to keep it together… and keep it alive. The transition is like that of a former unabashed junkie trying to get clean while the pushers are pushing in all about with needles at the ready.
The episode on a super tense note, with Mackey weighing whether or not to shoot his old friend, who seemed to genuinely come clean in begging old Vic for assistance and forgiveness.
As other shows are hitting their season finales soon, I hope The Shield keeps bringing it well into the summer.
Wednesday
Lost - ABC
After the long break, Lost was back with a vengeance this week, vengeance being the key word here.
In the aftermath of Boone’s tragic, poignant death, the key players on the Island of Fate are left distraught, bleary-eyed, and looking for a scapegoat.
Enter Locke (Terry O’Quinn), who took off during Boone’s final hours to have an as yet revealed rendezvous with the mysterious hatch.
Meanwhile, we’re sent into the past and Sayid’s (Naveen Andrews) final hours before boarding the doomed plane that would send him to his new home. We soon find out that he has been dealt a hard bargain by the CIA: deliver his friend (who has terrorist connections) or never see the love of his life again, a woman he has been seeking for many years.
The plot thickens (as it often does on Lost) as Sayid is forced to convince his fairly dim-witted friend to go through with being a suicide bomber. This must be done in order to deliver the explosives to the CIA before detonation and to, in theory, save his would-be murderer-friend’s life.
Andrews-as-Sayid really shines in this episode, as does almost every character given significant screen time on this well acted, brilliantly scripted show. He plays the role with just the right balance of sensibility and steel, really bringing to life what could have been a one-dimensional former Iraqi intelligence officer.
When Sayid’s friend kills himself after finding out that he had been played, you know that Sayid had done the right thing, yet paid some incalculable price for it. This plotline dove-tailed beautifully to the island present, which found Jack (Matthew Fox) and more importantly Shannon (Maggie Grace… related to Topher Grace, perhaps?) after Locke’s blood.
The nail-biter ending deals Sayid a very similar quandary: do the right thing (stop Shannon from killing Locke) and pay a terrible price for it (the loss of Shannon’s feelings).
The ultimate reward for Sayid, of course, is that Shannon is Bad News with the tallest capital B and T one can construct. But it remains to be seen whether Shannon’s thirst for vengeance has been satisfied, and who (or what) the next target might be.
But there are bigger questions to consider:
Is it possible the island is the most vengeful entity of all?
Alias - ABC
From the Gorgeous mind of Wife:
I'm searching and searching for something interesting to say about this week’s episode, and all I can come up with is that next week will bring us Jennifer Garner's directorial debut.
I keep watching and holding my breath for things to get better, but I'm getting blue in the face and... is that a tunnel I see?
Stay away from the light!
Thursday
Project Greenlight - Bravo
As Feast enter post-production, we’re once again presented with evidence of how many obstacles exist in making a decent movie and getting it out to a decent audience. This week, the name of the game was hiding the largely unedited film from the studio execs at Dimension who were clamoring for it.
It all boiled down to this: if the money people get a bad first impression, the film could end up DOA because all marketing money and distribution could shut down straight away. The impossible paradox is that the studio execs seem to not realize that a film takes more than a week or two to get through post-production. In fact, it was mentioned that the “normal time” for coming up with a first cut (which is far from a finished film) normally takes about six weeks.
As Reel Big Fish says, “We can do it in editing.”
Key Moment #1:
Director John Gulager working with his editor to cut actress Navi Rawat out of the film as much as possible. This is the same Navi that the Casting Director schemed and connived to get into the film. When a producer tells Casting Director that no one wanted Navi in the movie and, indeed, she wasn’t very good in the film, Casting Director gets pissy and says, “It should be water under the bridge.”
Not so much.
Key Moment #2:
Director John Gulager working with his editor... and then falling asleep and slamming over backwards to terra firma in his office chair. Funny stuff.
Key Moment #3:
Executive Producer Chris Moore – who normally appears to be super amiable and likeable – blowing up on various Administrative Assistants for inviting Ben Affleck to a screening of the film but cutting him out of the loop.
“You don’t get to tell me that I’m not invited.”
Yes! Hollywood ego-life blood being spilled on camera.
This week left off on a cliffhanger leading up to next week’s season finale: what did Bob Weinstein think, the man who could end the entire project with one half-hearted shrug?
We’ll just have to wait and see, now won’t we?
The Apprentice - NBC
Lots going on in this fast-moving penultimate episode of The Apprentice. The upshot is that we have ourselves a finals on, and as I predicted several weeks ago it’s an all-female showdown of Tana vs. Kendra.
Craig was the clear trailer going into this round, and he did himself no favors by interviewing badly before four top CEOs, who conducted executive-level interviews on behalf of Donald Trump. Kendra, in my opinion, stepped up by appearing bright, confident (too confident?), and tough while the always well-spoken and upbeat (too upbeat? Okay, for me she is, but I don’t own a multi-billion dollar company, now do I?) Tana had no trouble breezing through this stage.
I’m curious why Trump had the CEO of companies like Burger King and Domino’s Pizza conduct these interviews, as the apprentice-to-be will be building buildings and golf courses, not selling Big Macs and pizzas, But again: what do I know? (Hint: I smell big sponsorship dollars…)
Craig got the early canning and made a rather abrupt and mysterious departure from the show, which really symbolized his entire Apprentice experience, really.
The two ladies luxuriated in their status as finalists, and spent an entirely too cheesy scene going through pictures of the fired candidates and remarking on who photographed well and on who is cute. (Wife, by the by, stormed out of the room at this point in disgust.)
As has been customary during past seasons, the finalists were granted three team members each that had already been fired. The producers must have had a ball with this one as this season has been chock full of the nutty, explosive, and incompetent. Original members of Book Smarts (Magna) and Street Smarts (Net Worth) were chosen for Kendra and Tana, respectively.
Key Line, by Brian to camera, said in gruff, Joe Piscopo in Johnny Dangerously-esque intonation:
“We’re gonna be late for the meeting. I don’t like being late.”
The final task, as always, centers on organizing a big, complicated, and high-profile event. Kendra was tasked with running a video game showcase at Webster Hall (where the underage used to go to party when I lived in New York) while Tana was asked to run an event designed to promote New York City as an Olympic site in 2012.
As the episode ended, Tana looked to be in trouble already with the sponsor of her event. Overall, Tana’s team looks as though it’s functioning together reasonably well (and with Brian and Kristen aboard, that’s saying a lot).
Who will be the next Apprentice?
I’m sticking with my prediction: Tana in a close call.
Oh: And I still miss Bren (sniff).
Check out The Apprentice uber-post here.
Making the Band III - MTV
The hour-long season finale answered some questions while leaving a bunch of others open.
The biggest thing we learned is why we got week-after-week of auditions and no real band as with past editions of Making the Band. The reason: because Diddy was never really happy with the crop of ladies in the first place. After a final grueling round of dancing and singing on the set of MTV’s TRL (I believe), Diddy dropped the hammer, eliminating four of the final seven ladies. The remaining three aren’t hired… but neither are they hired. It looks as though they might get pushed on forward to the next season.
Oh: before the final cuts, P Diddy had sent everyone home for four months to “see how they would react.”
Damn the show business is one cold business, ain’t it?
That’s why it’s much safer to watch from home, kids.
At any rate, this season just didn’t hold up to the fun and antics of Season Two, which was just a fun-as-hell ride following the machinations of Da Band.
I hope Diddy goes back to hip hop and stays away from the cheesy pop group thing. Don’t we have enough of that crap already?
Lots of shows going into hibernation for the summer these days… will I latch onto new shows soon, or spend some time in the great outdoors?
Leave the Fray? Are you kidding?
Always obey the Ray, my children…
Overall take on the week:
Best show on television: Lost (grabs the top spot in its return!)
Upper-tier shows: Project Greenlight, The Shield, The Contender
Good, not great The Apprentice
Falling… just about off the radar: Trippin’, Alias
<<<<<>>>>>
Sunday
The Contender - NBC
Joey Gilbert ended up not being the Machiavellian threat he thought himself to be, losing to the tough but beatable Peter Manfredo, Jr. in the closing moments of a five-round bout. Unfortunately, the fight was stopped not due to a punch but rather an accidental head-butt that made Joey’s eye look as though it had just come face-to-face with a cross-town bus.
So Peter got the car thanks to Joey last week, and the win over Joey this week thanks to the fortuitous location of his forehead.
Such is the uncertainty of the boxer’s life.
Now let’s take a quick look at the remaining Contenders:
Jesse Brinkley and Anthony Bonsante are set to fight next week to finish up the second round and bring the competition down to its final four. Let’s look at them first.
Jesse Brinkley
He’s bald, he’s little, he’s quick and agile, and he’s kind of conniving and annoying.
And he just might have the qualities needed to pull off the whole shooting match. He certainly has the ego and the mental angle on his side, which he displayed to perfection this week in the house by psyching out a bewildered-looking Joey with “It’s just a game, fighting is” kind of talk.
Anthony Bonsante
He wears a #1 Daddy hat most of the time, and likes to talk about his kids, what it means to be a dad, the importance of being a parent to children, and the kind of dad (or father) a parent should be, particularly when one is a boxer and one is the father and/or parent of said children.
And so on.
The winner of the epic Kids v. God contest several weeks back, Bonsante has been hampered under a bad hammy which may make him an easy target next week in the ring against Jesse.
There’s something about Bonsante, though. Something kind of crazy. But not the good crazy, he’s gonna go nuts on him crazy kind of crazy.
More like the he’s looking at me through the television kind of weird and he’s talking about his kids way too much variety. So we’ll see.
Alfonso Gomez and Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora have already fought their way into the Final Four. Both are good and tough Latin fighters. While Mora employs classical philosophy, psychological warfare, and a flair for the dramatic reminiscent of the great Sugar Ray Leonard himself, Gomez is a dogged, rugged, and determined fighter with a strong punch and determined heart.
A Gomez and Mora finale would be a fine finale to watch, featuring two of the best fighters and decent souls in the competition. The clash of styles could produce a great ending to a fine first season for this reality series that is actually really real (for once).
Grey’s Anatomy - ABC
Erin McMaster waxes about tumors and Parkinson’s and Dr. Grey and such.
Monday
Trippin’ - MTV
I’m losing most of the faith that I had that this could turn into a quirky, fun little eco-adventure show that could help dull the pain of those Monday Night Blues.
This week involved hanging out in the beautiful Costa Rican jungle. Some rad surfing was done, and it was fun to watch Kid Rock rappel down a waterfall whilst gnawing on a cigar.
But that was about it.
American Idol - Fox
There is a mega-ton of American Idol talk this week, as always. I don’t subscribe to the madness myself, but check out the uber-post here.
24 - Fox
Jeff Kouba expounds on 24 and Dr. Spock and mind-melds.
I know I’m intrigued.
Tuesday
The Shield - FX
I find that I look forward to watching this cop drama more each week, and each week I’m rewarded for doing so. While there’s a certain degree of one-off cases that are dealt with down at The Farm, the great thing is that they usually help overall character development (Dutch and Wyms – played by the great pairing of Jay Karnes and CCH Pounder) beginning to heal old wounds during the capture of the Coffee Bandit) or the overall story arc (Antwon Mitchell and his various drug dealings and thug-ocity).
Even old Aceveda, who is, to paraphrase Ben Stiller in Dodge Ball, getting “freaky naughty” with his high-priced call girl, is fueling his anger and anxiety into blowing down the shaky foundation of Captain Rawling’s (Glen Close) property seizures program. Rawling, for her part, has moved to the hood to “make a difference,” to which Mackey (who has much bigger things on his mind) replies, “they won’t give a shit.”
But all of that pales in comparison to the tension building around the Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and Shane Vendrell (Walt Goggins) storyline. In other words: was Vendrell willing to kill Mackey to save his own ass with the vengeful, brutal Mitchell?
Key Moment:
One of the great dark/hilarious scenes in Pulp Fiction was played out when Vendrell’s anxious partner accidentally shoots one of Mitchell’s informants, which immediately brought a few of the great lines in cinema to my mind:
“Man, I don’t even have an opinion.”
“You just shot Martin in the face!”
Goggins has been outstanding this entire season, morphing from an addled crime lord with a badge to a vulnerable, scared family man scrambling to keep it together… and keep it alive. The transition is like that of a former unabashed junkie trying to get clean while the pushers are pushing in all about with needles at the ready.
The episode on a super tense note, with Mackey weighing whether or not to shoot his old friend, who seemed to genuinely come clean in begging old Vic for assistance and forgiveness.
As other shows are hitting their season finales soon, I hope The Shield keeps bringing it well into the summer.
Wednesday
Lost - ABC
After the long break, Lost was back with a vengeance this week, vengeance being the key word here.
In the aftermath of Boone’s tragic, poignant death, the key players on the Island of Fate are left distraught, bleary-eyed, and looking for a scapegoat.
Enter Locke (Terry O’Quinn), who took off during Boone’s final hours to have an as yet revealed rendezvous with the mysterious hatch.
Meanwhile, we’re sent into the past and Sayid’s (Naveen Andrews) final hours before boarding the doomed plane that would send him to his new home. We soon find out that he has been dealt a hard bargain by the CIA: deliver his friend (who has terrorist connections) or never see the love of his life again, a woman he has been seeking for many years.
The plot thickens (as it often does on Lost) as Sayid is forced to convince his fairly dim-witted friend to go through with being a suicide bomber. This must be done in order to deliver the explosives to the CIA before detonation and to, in theory, save his would-be murderer-friend’s life.
Andrews-as-Sayid really shines in this episode, as does almost every character given significant screen time on this well acted, brilliantly scripted show. He plays the role with just the right balance of sensibility and steel, really bringing to life what could have been a one-dimensional former Iraqi intelligence officer.
When Sayid’s friend kills himself after finding out that he had been played, you know that Sayid had done the right thing, yet paid some incalculable price for it. This plotline dove-tailed beautifully to the island present, which found Jack (Matthew Fox) and more importantly Shannon (Maggie Grace… related to Topher Grace, perhaps?) after Locke’s blood.
The nail-biter ending deals Sayid a very similar quandary: do the right thing (stop Shannon from killing Locke) and pay a terrible price for it (the loss of Shannon’s feelings).
The ultimate reward for Sayid, of course, is that Shannon is Bad News with the tallest capital B and T one can construct. But it remains to be seen whether Shannon’s thirst for vengeance has been satisfied, and who (or what) the next target might be.
But there are bigger questions to consider:
Is it possible the island is the most vengeful entity of all?
Alias - ABC
From the Gorgeous mind of Wife:
I'm searching and searching for something interesting to say about this week’s episode, and all I can come up with is that next week will bring us Jennifer Garner's directorial debut.
I keep watching and holding my breath for things to get better, but I'm getting blue in the face and... is that a tunnel I see?
Stay away from the light!
Thursday
Project Greenlight - Bravo
As Feast enter post-production, we’re once again presented with evidence of how many obstacles exist in making a decent movie and getting it out to a decent audience. This week, the name of the game was hiding the largely unedited film from the studio execs at Dimension who were clamoring for it.
It all boiled down to this: if the money people get a bad first impression, the film could end up DOA because all marketing money and distribution could shut down straight away. The impossible paradox is that the studio execs seem to not realize that a film takes more than a week or two to get through post-production. In fact, it was mentioned that the “normal time” for coming up with a first cut (which is far from a finished film) normally takes about six weeks.
As Reel Big Fish says, “We can do it in editing.”
Key Moment #1:
Director John Gulager working with his editor to cut actress Navi Rawat out of the film as much as possible. This is the same Navi that the Casting Director schemed and connived to get into the film. When a producer tells Casting Director that no one wanted Navi in the movie and, indeed, she wasn’t very good in the film, Casting Director gets pissy and says, “It should be water under the bridge.”
Not so much.
Key Moment #2:
Director John Gulager working with his editor... and then falling asleep and slamming over backwards to terra firma in his office chair. Funny stuff.
Key Moment #3:
Executive Producer Chris Moore – who normally appears to be super amiable and likeable – blowing up on various Administrative Assistants for inviting Ben Affleck to a screening of the film but cutting him out of the loop.
“You don’t get to tell me that I’m not invited.”
Yes! Hollywood ego-life blood being spilled on camera.
This week left off on a cliffhanger leading up to next week’s season finale: what did Bob Weinstein think, the man who could end the entire project with one half-hearted shrug?
We’ll just have to wait and see, now won’t we?
The Apprentice - NBC
Lots going on in this fast-moving penultimate episode of The Apprentice. The upshot is that we have ourselves a finals on, and as I predicted several weeks ago it’s an all-female showdown of Tana vs. Kendra.
Craig was the clear trailer going into this round, and he did himself no favors by interviewing badly before four top CEOs, who conducted executive-level interviews on behalf of Donald Trump. Kendra, in my opinion, stepped up by appearing bright, confident (too confident?), and tough while the always well-spoken and upbeat (too upbeat? Okay, for me she is, but I don’t own a multi-billion dollar company, now do I?) Tana had no trouble breezing through this stage.
I’m curious why Trump had the CEO of companies like Burger King and Domino’s Pizza conduct these interviews, as the apprentice-to-be will be building buildings and golf courses, not selling Big Macs and pizzas, But again: what do I know? (Hint: I smell big sponsorship dollars…)
Craig got the early canning and made a rather abrupt and mysterious departure from the show, which really symbolized his entire Apprentice experience, really.
The two ladies luxuriated in their status as finalists, and spent an entirely too cheesy scene going through pictures of the fired candidates and remarking on who photographed well and on who is cute. (Wife, by the by, stormed out of the room at this point in disgust.)
As has been customary during past seasons, the finalists were granted three team members each that had already been fired. The producers must have had a ball with this one as this season has been chock full of the nutty, explosive, and incompetent. Original members of Book Smarts (Magna) and Street Smarts (Net Worth) were chosen for Kendra and Tana, respectively.
Key Line, by Brian to camera, said in gruff, Joe Piscopo in Johnny Dangerously-esque intonation:
“We’re gonna be late for the meeting. I don’t like being late.”
The final task, as always, centers on organizing a big, complicated, and high-profile event. Kendra was tasked with running a video game showcase at Webster Hall (where the underage used to go to party when I lived in New York) while Tana was asked to run an event designed to promote New York City as an Olympic site in 2012.
As the episode ended, Tana looked to be in trouble already with the sponsor of her event. Overall, Tana’s team looks as though it’s functioning together reasonably well (and with Brian and Kristen aboard, that’s saying a lot).
Who will be the next Apprentice?
I’m sticking with my prediction: Tana in a close call.
Oh: And I still miss Bren (sniff).
Check out The Apprentice uber-post here.
Making the Band III - MTV
The hour-long season finale answered some questions while leaving a bunch of others open.
The biggest thing we learned is why we got week-after-week of auditions and no real band as with past editions of Making the Band. The reason: because Diddy was never really happy with the crop of ladies in the first place. After a final grueling round of dancing and singing on the set of MTV’s TRL (I believe), Diddy dropped the hammer, eliminating four of the final seven ladies. The remaining three aren’t hired… but neither are they hired. It looks as though they might get pushed on forward to the next season.
Oh: before the final cuts, P Diddy had sent everyone home for four months to “see how they would react.”
Damn the show business is one cold business, ain’t it?
That’s why it’s much safer to watch from home, kids.
At any rate, this season just didn’t hold up to the fun and antics of Season Two, which was just a fun-as-hell ride following the machinations of Da Band.
I hope Diddy goes back to hip hop and stays away from the cheesy pop group thing. Don’t we have enough of that crap already?
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