Current Tunes – George Thorogood & The Destroyers – Bad to the Bone
I’m finally coming around to accept something that’s both difficult and frustrating. I’ve almost been in denial about it, as much as one can be about these sorts of things. I think I mostly listened too much to what others tried to say, instead of just listening to my heart. It’s disappointing to have to come to grips with it, but it’s better to face the truth of the matter than to continue to live in a deluded world built on falsehood. It’s for the better for me to face up to it. This is so hard to say, but I’m afraid that I’ve come to realize that “Dollhouse” is not a very good television show.
While it’s been quite enthralling to get two shows worth of material for the last couple of weeks, the format has had an unfortunate side effect for the show. The primary problem is these episodes were clearly meant to be shown with a week’s break in-between each, so some of the usual tension and excitement that comes from standing around the proverbial water cooler each week to talk about the show’s development has been diminished. A good, dramatic television show, like a good stew, has to simmer for a little while, and clumping the episodes into two-piece nights isn’t letting the audience get the full flavor of the show. This all in all isn’t really the fault of the show’s creators, this is just the strategy taken by Fox to hurry and rush the show out of it’s schedule so both they, and Whedon, can get on with their lives. The tumultuous relationship is over.
However, getting to see two episodes in such chronological proximity allows for a much more precise and immediate comparison, and the resulting examinations aren’t very promising. Last night’s (Friday) block particularly highlighted this paradigm, featuring one show that was severely lacking in flow and craftsmanship (among other traits) while the second seriously turned up the heat with intrigue, mystery, and good ol’ fashioned fun. That’s how this show has been from the outset; it’s simply a hit or miss show that shows some wonderfully bright flashes of inspiration and ideas, but in the process burns itself out.
What had always frustrated me about the show (and I believe many, many other fans of the show) is how the “Dollhouse” could not, no matter what it did, get me emotionally invested in Echo, the main character for gosh sakes! Such a flaw of storytelling would normally be enough to completely kill my attachment to any sort of show, but such was the perplexing nature of this show: despite my scorn for Echo, most of the other supporting characters overwhelmingly well-done, provocative, interesting, not to mention finely acted. Victor, Sierra, Boyd, Topher, Adele all gripped me with their personalities and their individual conflicts that kept me turning the page, so to speak, each week with this show.
Apparently that trait held only a fragile amount of sway with me, as it all came crashing down with the first of the two episodes from last night, “Stop-Loss.” More appropriately called “The Victor Episode,” we get a focused look in on Victor’s real life after his contract with the Dollhouse expires. Turns out Victor is a former soldier, suffering from PTSD; or at least, he was suffering from PTSD until Topher cured him of it, which I thought was another very cool extrapolation of the technology being explored in this show. While I’m sure this was meant to be a companion episode to “Belonging” (the fantastic Sierra-oriented episode, directed by “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star Jonathan Frakes), “Stop-Loss” unfortunately featured none of the tension, excitement, or heart that its counterpart had. Which is all the more a disservice to Enver Gjokaj, who has been nothing short of stellar playing the role of Victor.
The episode following “Stop-Loss” was a step back in the right direction though. Ever since this show started, one concept had literally frightened me to my core, and in “The Attic,” we got to finally see what that mysterious place was really all about. It was everything I expected, and nothing like what I expected at the same time. That mostly stems from some specific secrets about the purpose and operation of the Attic, which of course I won’t spoil here. This episode stunningly moved along the main plot line quite efficiently and managed to explain plenty while not making things more complicated (something “Lost” does every single week, ha). This episode was an absolute treat, but as I said before it unfortunately highlighted the show’s frustrating inconsistency, and that took a little of the fun out of it.
All that jabbering to just flat out tell you I’m so happy “Dollhouse” is coming to an end soon. Only three episodes left, and unfortunately I have to wait until January 8th for the next one. You gave it a good try Whedon, but I think you made a few key mistakes that those ended up too overwhelming to carry a show like this whose premise was already a bit shaky and pushy, especially for studio executives. To be fair, it hasn’t all been you’re fault. They stuck you with a really lame time slot. I would have watched this show on cable every single night if it had been scheduled on a Tuesday or a Wednesday; Friday night is meant for socializing, not for sitting on the couch, sorry.
But it’s all OK! I have a feeling you’ve got something extra special up your sleeve for your next couple of projects. It’s that promise that helps me feel fine with “Dollhouse” ending. Consider this: can you really look me in the eye and pick any one individual episode of “Dollhouse” and tell me it’s better than “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog?” No, you can’t. Because “Dr. Horrible” is a supremely intelligent little animal, and I for one think that’s what Joss should concentrate on for the near future. It should be pretty obvious to most that that’s what he’ll be concentrating on in the near future, and I’m perfectly fine with that. I can’t imagine how much different things would have been if Joss had invested all the money & energy he used on “Dollhouse” and put it towards “Dr. Horrible” instead, but there’s no point in silly what-ifs. It’s best to just keep looking forward.
19 December 2009
18 December 2009
"District 9" Rules 2009
Current Tunes: Baroness – Steel That Sleeps the Eye
I watched “Moon” last night, an interesting little sci-fi feature by newcomer Duncan Jones. I found out after a brief bit of digging that Mr. Jones is actually the son of David Bowie. Crazy no? What a legacy to have to live up to…
Anyway, I wanted to talk about moon to more specifically talk about another movie. “Moon” was good enough for what it was. An interesting little character study, of sorts. I had high hopes for this film; the hype was at just the right level for me to be excited, but not to a brimming-over point, like I might get with mindless fan-fare like your everyday comic book movie. I gotta say though, I’m quite let down by “Moon.” I guess why I’m let down by it is because it wasn’t the new age masterpiece that plenty of people were calling it.
I had been so excited by all the buzz surrounding it “2001” influence, but what I saw looked less like influence and more like unadulterated plagiarism. Which happens, in film these days anyway. I had a hard time identifying with the main characters, and I would explain why, but it’d require spoiling a major, major plot point that’s best kept secret. It just got flat out dull at moments too, and that’s never a good sign.
But getting to the point, the positive outcome of seeing “Moon” was it gave me a newer appreciation of not just how overwhelmingly good “District 9” is, but how powerfully vital it will be in the coming decades. I’m going to go ahead and proclaim “District 9” the best sci-fi film made since “2001.” Shock and amazement, I know… It’s true though. I challenge you to find me a movie made in the genre since 1968 that is 1) technically masterful 2) wholly original 3) pertinent to world affairs and 4) all and out purely entertaining as “District 9” is. Plenty of sci-fi films have had a few of these elements, but I can’t think of many that contain all four. Even my beloved “The Matrix” can at best lay claim to three of these criteria, in my opinion.
Looking back through the years, I confidently feel “District 9” stacks up to any film made in the genre (and to plenty outside of it). That’s why (as a little preview to my end-of-the-year lists) I’m going to go ahead spoil you folks on my best film of 2009 and tell you that its undoubtedly “District 9.” And this is without even seeing the work of my hero and idol, Terry Gilliam. That should let you know how heavy I am on this film. If you haven’t seen it, go out and get it next week when it hits DVD.
I watched “Moon” last night, an interesting little sci-fi feature by newcomer Duncan Jones. I found out after a brief bit of digging that Mr. Jones is actually the son of David Bowie. Crazy no? What a legacy to have to live up to…
Anyway, I wanted to talk about moon to more specifically talk about another movie. “Moon” was good enough for what it was. An interesting little character study, of sorts. I had high hopes for this film; the hype was at just the right level for me to be excited, but not to a brimming-over point, like I might get with mindless fan-fare like your everyday comic book movie. I gotta say though, I’m quite let down by “Moon.” I guess why I’m let down by it is because it wasn’t the new age masterpiece that plenty of people were calling it.
I had been so excited by all the buzz surrounding it “2001” influence, but what I saw looked less like influence and more like unadulterated plagiarism. Which happens, in film these days anyway. I had a hard time identifying with the main characters, and I would explain why, but it’d require spoiling a major, major plot point that’s best kept secret. It just got flat out dull at moments too, and that’s never a good sign.
But getting to the point, the positive outcome of seeing “Moon” was it gave me a newer appreciation of not just how overwhelmingly good “District 9” is, but how powerfully vital it will be in the coming decades. I’m going to go ahead and proclaim “District 9” the best sci-fi film made since “2001.” Shock and amazement, I know… It’s true though. I challenge you to find me a movie made in the genre since 1968 that is 1) technically masterful 2) wholly original 3) pertinent to world affairs and 4) all and out purely entertaining as “District 9” is. Plenty of sci-fi films have had a few of these elements, but I can’t think of many that contain all four. Even my beloved “The Matrix” can at best lay claim to three of these criteria, in my opinion.
Looking back through the years, I confidently feel “District 9” stacks up to any film made in the genre (and to plenty outside of it). That’s why (as a little preview to my end-of-the-year lists) I’m going to go ahead spoil you folks on my best film of 2009 and tell you that its undoubtedly “District 9.” And this is without even seeing the work of my hero and idol, Terry Gilliam. That should let you know how heavy I am on this film. If you haven’t seen it, go out and get it next week when it hits DVD.
17 December 2009
Approaching the End of the Decade & It Turns Out Tiger Woods is the Gene Simmons of the PGA
Current Tunes: Pardon the Interruption on ESPN
Between all the insanity surrounding Tiger Woods and the death of Bengals’ wide receiver Chris Henry this morning, I’m moderately thankful I’m not a celebrity. The debacle Woods is going through makes me oh so grateful for my privacy, what little of it I still have. Admittedly I myself am actually most responsible for any lack of privacy I’ve suffered. Using Facebook, Twitter, this blog are all conscious decisions that degrade my level of privacy, at varying levels. The Internet is shrinking the privacy bubble; we’ve all known that for a while, but how much smaller is it going to get? Could we possibly complete burst it?
RFID chips in national ID cards? ISPs logging all your purchases and shopping accounts to better know how to market to you? Patriot Act wiretapping, warrant-burning, Miranda rights stomping nonsense. There’s lots of ways our privacy is being curtailed. I’m not out to sound like a conspiracy theorist. One person I know would probably respond, “Who cares? The government doesn’t have any interest in you, you’re a speck of dust on the shelf.” It’s probably true, but shouldn’t privacy still be a principle to stand up for? A right to be protected? And like I said before, that right is almost completely gone for major celebrities who have to live with people trying to hack their cell phones for pictures or text messages, whether incriminating or not. Average standing citizens might not be far behind, and that bothers me.
Now, about Joseph Lieberman. I never liked this half-wit from the start. Sorry to be tooting my own horn, but I wanted this guy gone from the Senate years ago. This is the same knucklehead who thinks that Congress should get to decide what music you listen to, what movies you watch, & what video games you’re allowed to play. Apparently American government is knowledgeable enough about art to dictate what’s tolerable, but they can’t run a health care insurance racket? I know they’re completely different subjects, but that logic just does not add up to me.
In reality, I haven’t been following the health care debate/issue/hodgepodge/catastrophe in great detail. I’m not very invested in the discussion, to be truthful. But I can’t miss out on a chance to bash on my Most Hated Senator, Mr. Lieberman. Nevertheless, if you want to know what I think about health care (and you obviously do if you read this freakin’ blog!), I think the public option should happen. My general logic for this is, if people get sick, they die. Or, they miss work, or they under perform at work. Or they can’t take care of their children. Then the economy suffers as a whole. That’s disgustingly simplistic, I’ll admit.
So let me look at it a completely new way. I understand the exchange of commerce is vital to our society’s stability, but what are some things we don’t charge for, or charge very minimal for? The examples that come to mind, for me, are breathable air & water. Another thing we provide that we don’t pay much for (compared to what it costs) is military protection. Why is it we don’t pay a fee to the military, but we have to pay for a little round white dot that cures headaches or infections or whatever? Yeah, I know what you’re going to say: taxes. Well taxes pay for lots of other things than military.
Health care is expensive, but so are Hollywood film productions. James Cameron just spent $300+ million on a movie. But when it comes out tomorrow, people are going to be paying an average of about $9 a ticket to see it. You can make significant investments, as a company, and still keep prices at the consumer level low and affordable and still make it profitable. Looking at the same industry, Sony Pictures & Terry Gilliam aren’t going to charge $30 a ticket for “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” to make up for the fact that only a third (or less) of the people who saw “Avatar” will see their film. And they even spent less money making “Parnassus.” But yet health care companies, hospitals, insurance companies, whoever are going to charge more for a certain procedure or prescription just because this treatment gets used less often than a dose of Tylenol or a swift slap on the back?
If anything, allow me to use a purely Pathos-based argument: America touts itself as the greatest, most prolific, most well-to-do country in the world, but we let our citizens die every day of treatable, curable disease just because they don’t have the financial means necessary to line the pockets of hoggish health insurance companies. That idea just sickens me to think about it.
Between all the insanity surrounding Tiger Woods and the death of Bengals’ wide receiver Chris Henry this morning, I’m moderately thankful I’m not a celebrity. The debacle Woods is going through makes me oh so grateful for my privacy, what little of it I still have. Admittedly I myself am actually most responsible for any lack of privacy I’ve suffered. Using Facebook, Twitter, this blog are all conscious decisions that degrade my level of privacy, at varying levels. The Internet is shrinking the privacy bubble; we’ve all known that for a while, but how much smaller is it going to get? Could we possibly complete burst it?
RFID chips in national ID cards? ISPs logging all your purchases and shopping accounts to better know how to market to you? Patriot Act wiretapping, warrant-burning, Miranda rights stomping nonsense. There’s lots of ways our privacy is being curtailed. I’m not out to sound like a conspiracy theorist. One person I know would probably respond, “Who cares? The government doesn’t have any interest in you, you’re a speck of dust on the shelf.” It’s probably true, but shouldn’t privacy still be a principle to stand up for? A right to be protected? And like I said before, that right is almost completely gone for major celebrities who have to live with people trying to hack their cell phones for pictures or text messages, whether incriminating or not. Average standing citizens might not be far behind, and that bothers me.
Now, about Joseph Lieberman. I never liked this half-wit from the start. Sorry to be tooting my own horn, but I wanted this guy gone from the Senate years ago. This is the same knucklehead who thinks that Congress should get to decide what music you listen to, what movies you watch, & what video games you’re allowed to play. Apparently American government is knowledgeable enough about art to dictate what’s tolerable, but they can’t run a health care insurance racket? I know they’re completely different subjects, but that logic just does not add up to me.
In reality, I haven’t been following the health care debate/issue/hodgepodge/catastrophe in great detail. I’m not very invested in the discussion, to be truthful. But I can’t miss out on a chance to bash on my Most Hated Senator, Mr. Lieberman. Nevertheless, if you want to know what I think about health care (and you obviously do if you read this freakin’ blog!), I think the public option should happen. My general logic for this is, if people get sick, they die. Or, they miss work, or they under perform at work. Or they can’t take care of their children. Then the economy suffers as a whole. That’s disgustingly simplistic, I’ll admit.
So let me look at it a completely new way. I understand the exchange of commerce is vital to our society’s stability, but what are some things we don’t charge for, or charge very minimal for? The examples that come to mind, for me, are breathable air & water. Another thing we provide that we don’t pay much for (compared to what it costs) is military protection. Why is it we don’t pay a fee to the military, but we have to pay for a little round white dot that cures headaches or infections or whatever? Yeah, I know what you’re going to say: taxes. Well taxes pay for lots of other things than military.
Health care is expensive, but so are Hollywood film productions. James Cameron just spent $300+ million on a movie. But when it comes out tomorrow, people are going to be paying an average of about $9 a ticket to see it. You can make significant investments, as a company, and still keep prices at the consumer level low and affordable and still make it profitable. Looking at the same industry, Sony Pictures & Terry Gilliam aren’t going to charge $30 a ticket for “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” to make up for the fact that only a third (or less) of the people who saw “Avatar” will see their film. And they even spent less money making “Parnassus.” But yet health care companies, hospitals, insurance companies, whoever are going to charge more for a certain procedure or prescription just because this treatment gets used less often than a dose of Tylenol or a swift slap on the back?
If anything, allow me to use a purely Pathos-based argument: America touts itself as the greatest, most prolific, most well-to-do country in the world, but we let our citizens die every day of treatable, curable disease just because they don’t have the financial means necessary to line the pockets of hoggish health insurance companies. That idea just sickens me to think about it.
16 December 2009
The Return
Current Tunes: Ole’ Nessie – Mastodon
So I took one whopper of a hiatus it seems. That’s not unfamiliar ground for me with my blogs. I’ve got a track record of just disappearing for sections of time and such was the case for the major part of this fall. Two and a half months I’ve been gone, and I can’t make any good excuse. No, I won’t make any excuses. That’s something that has to be gotten rid of.
This past quarter of school was quite challenging for me, and I feel like I barely survived. I learned some new things, discovered that I can dig inside and find a way to push myself when I really need to. I still don’t think I’m some vanquisher of adversity, but I’m possibly apprenticing for the title. I wanted to give up so very much, but I didn’t. I should feel very good about that; I should feel better about it than I do. Persevering through class was a triumph. Like always, I guess, I highlight my failures and forget my successes.
The time for that is done and over with though. I’m putting together a toolbox. It’s sturdy, and it’s going to someday be filled with all the things I need to complete the tasks I have ahead of me. I’m tired of falling victim to the same foolish mental fallacies and faults that pave a path to disappointment and despair. I haven’t written anything in a long time, not really written anything. I’ve put words on a page; I’ve organized them into documents. But I haven’t churned out anything that feels like a creation. Just products. That’s coming to a stop though. I’m rediscovering my love for the overwhelming power of creativity.
I’ve had to sort through all the distant memories to find what I needed to get back to a place where writing is a love and not a chore. I remember being locked away in my apartment in Tuscaloosa so many years ago, where I ended up writing some of the best things I’ve ever written in my life. I remember nights just sitting at my desk with lit candles and Bryant-Denny stadium lit up across the street. I remember a time when I didn’t have to force the writing, when it just happened. Subconsciously, I knew I needed to get back to that place, and so I tried all sorts of stupid, foolish methods to get back there, none of which worked. I think I’ve come to realize I don’t have to go back to that place; I have to go back to me.
As for the future of Quantifiable Darkness, one major problem I had was a complete lack of schedule in regards to when posts would happen. That is a thing of the past. Starting today, posts happen daily. That's right, daily. Expect the same fun-time hodgepodge of media commentary, political rambling, personal accounts and other general mayhem. Sometime after Christmas Day you can all tune in for my end-of-the-year "Best Ofs," which has mostly been compiled but is on hold until a few certain films have been viewed, including "Antichrist," "Avatar," "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," and "Up in the Air," among a few others. I'm especially excited about my "Biggest Disappointment" sections, now not just in music, but for the TV & film components as well. Joy of joys!
I’ve returned, and it feels good to be back. You should know this isn’t the only thing I’m going to write tonight either. As soon as this gets posted, I’m getting to work on something else, one of a few different small projects I want to try out. Hopefully writing up a small essay or a few poems will jump-start me into finishing my thesis in the coming two weeks.
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