Worth Blogging About
From today's
Variety
:
Charlize Theron will give series TV a shot this fall, signing on to
guest star on five episodes of Fox's cult comedy "Arrested
Development."
Maybe they can get an audience this way! Nevertheless, I'll be there!
No Place to Lay
It seems a lot is going on in my world and I should have several things to blog about, but frankly, right now, I don't want to blog about anything until I find a place to live. And who knows when that's gonna happen?
Great Indeed
The Great Raid is possibly the most needed movie of the summer.
By no means is it the best. It's fair at best.
James Franco,
Joseph Fiennes, and
Benjamin Bratt all turn in less than captivating performances.
Logan Marshall-Green (
The OC) really is the most captivating actor onscreen, but that's beside the point.
This movie is imperative in a time where there are so many doubts and questions about the effectivity of the American military in Iraq. This true story of the liberation of a POW camp in the Philippines during World War II is a vivid reminder of the good that a military presence can do. It reinforces the point of a military as a liberator and agent of justice.
The film takes a little misstep in the very closing narration that keeps it from completely being a 100% "military can be good" picture, but nevertheless, the film strives to be patriotic (and none too subtly). I have to admit though that at the end when the camera pans down to capture an image of the entire camp with a beaten US flag flapping in the foreground, I became a little verklempt.
Apparently this is one of the films that is going to get lost in the
Miramax dump/struggle as the Weinsteins leave their old company and start the new one. That's a shame. It's worth seeing--especially in comparison to a lot of the other crap that's out there right now.
One of the things I've struggled with over the last year is why anyone would want to join the military. I still don't understand why someone would willingly go through the apparent emotional and physical abuse that seems to perpetuate conformity and misogyny, but for the first time in a long time, I at least get an idea of what "one shot at glory" means. I'm still not convinced that the end justifies the means (regarding training and military culture), but at least this film provided me a reverse point of view for me to consider and bounce some ideas off of. For that, I am eternally appreciative.
Now, bring on
The Constant Gardener!
Blogging Purpose?
So I was talking to someone from back East the other day, and he was complaining about not knowing anything about what was going on with me in my life. I started telling him this and that, and then I asked if he'd bothered to read my blog. He said no and seemed pretty intent on not reading it since he thought that it was "the downfall of our society." He objected to the idea that bloggers feel like they have a platform to say whatever they want, when in reality, if they had anything worth saying, they'd find a way to say it.
Initially, when I started blogging, the point was a way to try and keep in touch with people and share my thoughts on films/television. I guess I've done that in a way, but not really. I throw in all sorts of musings in, so what's the purpose? What's the draw?
I guess in someways, (actually in most ways) blogging and reading blogs are like carefully constructed views into someone's personal diary. It's like putting a good face forward, but at the same time, peering into the daily doings and thoughts of someone--whether you've ever met them or not.
Then others use their blogs for corporate schilling for items like
auto insurance or films like
The Constant Gardner (which by the way I hear rocks.)
Then there are those that use the blog as a constant form of the anonymous Christmas letter.
Then there are those who use a blog to write their own Carrie Bradshaw-esque column for "readers."
But what is mine and what should it be? I don't know the answer to that yet. I haven't figured it out, but I'm starting to realize that I need an answer there, so I'm going to start thinking about it. In the meantime, let me schill more and encourage all of you to go watch
Veronica Mars if you're not already.
Rent Surprise
I know I've talked about the
Rent
trailer already on here, but I think I need to bring it back up. I've read a lot within the last couple of weeks looking expectantly at the film.
It's a risky movie to make. Not because of the director, but because of the material.
Rent
is an R-rated rock musical. It's not going to skew to the same audience as
Chicago
. It's going to be an entirely different audience than those who can't wait to see
The Producers
. Unlike any of those musicals,
Rent
is almost entirely sung--and it's a rock score.
Additionally, director Christopher Columbus has cast it full of the original cast with Rosario Dawson and Traci Thomas filling in the two non-originals not invited back to this cast. What does that mean? No stars. Taye Diggs hasn't opened a movie by himself and Dawson is nowhere being able to do so. Not because they don't have the talent, but they don't have the wide-spread fan base. Additionally, Diggs' role in the film is pretty small. Benny isn't a major role.
So what does any of this mean? I think it means that the film is a crapshoot--at least on paper. There's no way telling which one of the cast will click and if any of them will go anywhere regarding awards. (If I were betting, I'd put my money on Diggs' wife, Idina Menzel getting the biggest bump from the movie.) And it is going to be a huge marketing challenge.
Except for one thing--the music. The late Jonathan Larson's score is catchy, hummable, and one of the better rock scores ever done. And once you've heard it, you don't really let go of it. Why else was it lampooned in
Team America
?
My hunch tells me that
Rent
is going to go over really well. I say that almost solely based on the fact of how giddy the trailer makes me--AND the fact that I've never seen the trailer in the theater without hearing somebody singing along. That's a good sign. Whether the film is any good or not is yet to be seen, but I think Larson's work might still have one more post-Pulitzer, post-Tony trick up its sleeve.
Because I'm too Lazy
Anybody know how to delete comments off the blog? I'm getting spam and don't really want to deal with it. Would appreciate the help. Thanks.
Bear Safe
So the hike came and went today. There were no bear attacks. I'm sure that's a relief off everybody's mind.
Death of Reality
So I was having lunch with some folks today and somebody brought up a really interesting point regarding reality television that I hadn't thought of. I thought I'd share it here.
Much of the way that money is made in television is through syndication. Even a show that's not in the Nielsen Top 10 (like
Buffy) goes into syndication and results in a ridiculously enormous check. People rely on residuals. Writers can make money for years off a couple of years of working on a successful show that makes into syndication. That's why HBO was so eager to get
Sex and the City and
The Sopranos into syndication--that's where the real money is.
However, now there are fewer and fewer shows to go into syndication because of the onslaught of reality programming. But there's no syndication market for reality TV. Nobody wants to watch
Survivor for the second, third, fourth, umpteenth time. What's the point? Once you know who wins, where's the joy in the show? That's the reason that most of these reality shows haven't been sold into syndication and why they don't perform nearly as well on DVD as a show like
Arrested Development.
As a result of the industry's reliance upon reality programming, there is now going to start to be a lack of syndicatable programs. This is especially true of sitcoms since the only sitcoms that have really lasted the appropriate number of seasons over the last couple of years are
Scrubs and
Reba or
Less Than Perfect. As a result, the people "in the know" at this group were speculating that reality only would be around a couple of years and then it would be gone.
I'm not sure what I think about that. I've personally always thought that reality has been around in some way, shape or form (
Candid Camera
). It's so bloomin' cheap to make that I think it's unlikely that it will ever leave. I do think that it's possible that its production might decrease (I hope), but I think in some way, shape or form, it will always be around. The most believable scenario I can imagine is that it will be relegated to the summer where networks are too nervous to really invest in anything that they think has hope, though TNT has proven this summer with
The Closer that audiences will watch stuff in the summer, so who knows?
Out of the Mouth of Babes
What happens that we lose this level of honesty? Sure, I'm all for making people feel good and not hurting their feelings, but there's also something to be said for full, blunt honesty like this.
(And point of clarification, I don't think the Bible ever says it's whale. It says large fish--which most people assume to be a whale, but...)
"A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".
The teacher: asked, " What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl: replied, "Then you ask him".
Hazzardous to Your Health
When Jessica Simpson is the best thing in your movie, you know you're in trouble.
I've never seen
Super Troopers
or
Club Dread, but after having suffered through
The Dukes of Hazzard
, I have to think Jay Chandrasekhar is the most incompetent director working. To mess up and bastardize this television show as much as he and screenwriter John O'Brien have done takes talent. And I mean, more than just usual death by committee talent. This is the kind of film that makes fledgling filmmakers scratch their heads and go, "Can't I do better than that?"
Forget the plot. The overall logline is very
Dukes
. The problem comes in tone and setting. First of all, the
Dukes
were not stupid. Here, instead of having a production that loves who they are, it seeks to make fun of who this family and community are. Everybody with a Southern accent is stupid or corrupt. They're all hillbillies and that's something to make fun of. Not have fun with.
The thing about
Dukes
that made it so idyllic was that it really didn't have a lot of connection with the real world. Sure, there were references. Sometimes some outside cousin would come to Hazzard County, but very rarely did you ever see the show venture outside the county lines. Not the film. A good portion of the film takes place in--wait for it--Atlanta! Why? It's just another chance to make fun of these people.
And then there are the performances. Seann William Scott can be hilarious. Or he can be obnoxious. Here's he's beyond obnoxious. He actually is physically in love with the General Lee. HUH? Johnny Knoxville is unconvincing and Willie Nelson has so little to do that he doesn't feel real, though he does get to smoke some pot. (Since when did Uncle Jesse do that?) Burt Reynolds primps looking stupid and Lynda Carter is barely there. James Roday? Don't know him? There's a reason. How and why he got this job I don't know. That leaves Simpson. And honestly, she handles herself well. At least in comparison to the rest of the cast.
But the most appalling thing about the movie is that it takes what should've been a fun little family movie and fills it full of sexual innuendo and language that has absolutely no place in the film. I'm not usually prudish. Maybe it's because this is a connection to my childhood, but this film went waaaaay too far in trying to sex things up. It ended up being unfunny, unnecessary, and offensive.
Skip it and pray they don't make a sequel.
Go Writing Team!
So I've been paying a lot of attention to
Veronica Mars
lately because I think that might be the next program I try and do a spec script for. It's sassy, funny, connected, edgy--all the things I feel like I want to do as a writer. But I have absolutely no story in me dying to get out.
Actually, that's not true. I do have a couple of story ideas--but nothing that I think of and immediately know that it works. And the things I do have, I fear are just retreads of somebody else's brilliance.
I think what's slowing me down at the moment is that I still just don't completely have the tone and language of the show nailed yet. I think I've gotten the characters, but not the rhythms of the writing. There's actually a reasonably easy way to solve that--research. I just haven't done that yet. I need to find the episode to really study and I'm not sure which one that is yet.
Then, once I figure out what it is I'm really doing, I can figure out from there my approach. In some ways, it's like playing a team sport. Just because you know the rules to playing baseball doesn't mean that you're going to immediately be able to play lacrosse. You might have the skills and natural ability, but you at least have to leave the baseball field and observe lacrosse rules before you join the team and start smacking people upside the head with sticks.
I can't believe I just compared writing to sports. What's wrong with me?
In Case of a Bear Attack
One of my friends from church, R,is going hiking this weekend. He was talking to someone else at church, M, about it yesterday. M is a Native American, so he's trying to make sure R is prepared.
He asks if R has a snake bite kit. R admits he doesn't, but he ought to pick one up this week. He also acknowledges that in the past while hiking, he just tries his best to avoid snakes. (Personally, I try to avoid them at any point--whether it's hiking or at the zoo, but that's just me and this story isn't really about me.)
M then asks if R knows what to do in case of a bear attack. R admits he hasn't the foggiest suggestion. (I'd throw a Fozzie joke at him and see if that made him run--wacka wacka wacka.) M says that he's been told if a bear approaches you should stand up, wave your arms, and make a lot of noise, trying to scare the bear away.
He then said that if the bear starts to attack you, you should stuck your finger in the bear's anus. Apparently, that gets the bear all discombobulated so that you can escape. Of course, as R said, "If I'm getting attacked, I hope I have the wits about me to look for a bear's anus." (Apparently, R's wife was more concerned about getting bear poop on your hand than anything else in this scenario. Quite possibly a reasonable concern.)
My reaction to this story was immediately thinking of myself in this situation. Without a doubt, I'd get attacked by a female bear, stick my finger up the wrong hole and wind up with a friend for life--not really what I'd want.
Of course, we have no idea if M was telling the truth or if he was trying to pull a fast one. Anybody got any clue whether this is a legitimate tactic or not? I'd love some feedback on this one.
Signs of the Coming Apocalypse
1. Anthony starts watching a Jerry Bruckheimer show.
2. Anthony gets restless in a Joan Allen movie. (I thought
Yes got a little tedious.)
3. Anthony gets involved in a weekly organized sports activity (and isn't the worst person playing.)
4. Anthony helps organize a party attended by Hugh Heffner.
5. Anthony dislikes a film written and directed by Don Roos.
6. Anthony has intentions of seeing Kanye West perform in 2005, but not John Mayer.
Final sign of the Apocalypse:
Anthony actually kind of likes a movie directed by Michael Bay. (
The Island isn't perfect, but the first third is really strong. I just wish that had been the point of the movie instead of blowing things up.)
All I can say people is run for the hills. Get your lives in order and pray that I'm misinterpreting Revelation. (Is that blasphemous?)
Font Size
For some reason, I can't change the font size anymore on my blog. Anybody got an idea of how to fix that?
Stealth Smack
Has an actor ever gone straight from an Oscar winning role to as horrible as
Stealth
? It's horrible. Atrocious. Those words don't even begin to describe it.
If I were Jamie Foxx I'd put my Oscar in a secure vault somewhere for fear the Academy might ask for it back if any of them have the misfortune of stumbling into a theater and suffering through this.
And Josh Lucas.... Proving he's got a long way before he becomes as cool as Ed Norton or Paul Newman.
I don't even wanna get into the story because I actually left early. Only the second time in my life that I willingly got up and left. (The time
The Majestic
made me physically sick and I had to leave the theater doesn't count.)
I shoulda gone to see
The Island
instead. At least I got to watch Lance on
Charlie Rose
last night to abate the pain.
Do I Get Me Second Breakfast?
| You scored as Charlie. You're Charlie! Sweet, adorable and caring but with a bit of a bad habit.
Charlie | | 59% | Jack | | 56% | Claire | | 56% | Kate | | 50% | Sawyer | | 50% | Jin | | 44% | Michael | | 38% | Locke | | 38% | Shannon | | 31% | Hurley | | 31% | Boone | | 25% | Sayid | | 19% | Sun | | 19% |
Who is your "Lost" alter ego?
created with QuizFarm.com |
Embracing the Cliche
It took me a long time to admit that I wanted to be a screenwriter. At least verbalize it in the words, "I want to write television" (or some variation of that). The big hesitancy for me was that it sounded like such a cliche and I wasn't comfortable giving in to that cliche. Friday night, I went to the Act One alumni BBQ and somehow ended up on the alumni panel. (I'm not sure how or why Chris Riley asked me to do it unless they needed someone less impressive on there.) As I was sitting there talking and listening to other people talk, it dawned on me that wanting to be a writer isn't cliche--at least not in LA. I realized that there are certain things that are regionally specific non-cliches. For instance, since I moved to CA, I've met someone who told me that from the time he was 2, he realized he wanted to be President of the United States. He said it in all seriousness and it took everything I had not to laugh. It seemed absurd to me that someone in their mid-twenties in California would seriously think they had a shot of becoming president (unless they were already on their way). But as I was talking to somebody last night, I realized that if I'd met someone in DC who told me that same thing, I'd have believed them and moved on. It wouldn't have seemed preposterous or cliched.So maybe wanting to be a television writer in LA isn't cliched at all. In fact, it's common, expected, and achievable--in some place beyond my Ally McBeal world. This may not seem like a major breakthrough, but I felt like I accomplished a lot by figuring this out this week.
