Soul Sights Sound Bytes
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Lights Out: The first two seasons of Breaking Bad — The Remix version.
[i09] -
(Source: memewhore)
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The Newsroom and Aaron Sorkin's Illusion of Smartness “The amount of information being fed to the viewer- not just as plot-building bricks but even simple banter between characters- flows rapidly. However, anyone familiar with college essays or political speeches will know that when it comes to presenting a convincing argument, especially through storytelling, quantity does not imply quality.”
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Breaking Bad Season 5: Prediction
- Context: Breaking Bad
- Subject: Walter White
- Quote: "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
- Source: Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight
- Relevance: Very High
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TV Promo: HBO’s The Newsroom
From Aaron Sorkin, starring Jeff Daniels. Emily Mortimer, Alison Pill, Dev Patel, John Gallagher, Jr., Olivia Munn, Thomas Sadoski , Sam Waterston, and Jane Fonda.
Holy. shit. It’s like the best parts of Sports Night, West Wing, and Studio 60 rolled into one. Also, don’t think that opening tirade didn’t recall the Studio 60 pilot, Mr. Sorkin.(via imwithkanye)
Classic Sorkin. Can’t wait to see this.
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Mad Men: The 8-Bit YouTube Advergame
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New Nielsen Ratings to Measure TV and Online Ads Together | NY Times I’ve been waiting a while for this to be introduced. Will be looking closely at the combined ratings now.
(Source: popculturebrain)
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The Powerpuff Girls- Meet The Beat-Alls
Last night, I had a sincere moment of recollection. I was revisiting some of my favorite childhood cartoons when I came across this particular episode of The Powerpuff Girls. Now I remember watching this episode as a kid but it is now, all these years after my introduction to, and consequent obsession with, The Beatles, that I truly enjoy this cartoon.
If you have 15 minutes to spare, and enjoy the Beatles as much as I do, watch this episode. It combines the characteristic satire of The Powerpuff Girls with Beatlemania.
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Re-reviewing Fox’s New Girl
About a month ago, I posted my first impression of Fox’s latest gloss-loaded sitcom, New Girl. If you did read that review, you will see that I was fairly optimistic. I was looking forward to how the show developed its promising characters. I was also hoping that the writers wouldn’t get caught up in Zooey Deschanel’s ‘i-pretend-to-be-goofy-even-though-i’m-conventionally-attractive’ slapstick. Yes, her quirky character, Jess, is the protagonist of the show but read on and I shall elaborate upon how her performance lets me down.
First, however, let us take a look at some housekeeping issues. The use of the token black guy is an age old Hollywood habit. New Girl took the concept and shot itself in the proverbial foot. A post-pilot casting change saw one token black guy (Damon Wayans Jr playing Coach) being replaced by another (Lamorne Morris as Winston).
Now I understand that the writers wish to keep the show culturally diverse (barely!) but the switchover from Wayans to Morris was tacky and extremely unimaginative. Both their characters are scripted to be the same person. They are both athletic, loud, aggressive, in-your-face, African-American stereotypes. And that is probably why the tokenness of that particular role in the sitcom jumped out at me.Next, let us take a look at Deschanel’s severely undercooked, cringe-worthy act as Jess. Let us not kid ourselves- this girl is hot. She has all the physical features that our culture associates with attractive people. She is a human being fit for celluloid consumption. Yet, the writers throw in a bad haircut and a pair of glasses, and hope to convince us that she is naught but a socially aloof weirdo. Epic fail. She claims to be sexually inhibited yet prepares to bare her body in front of her roommate without a second thought. She has very poor aesthetic judgement yet it requires just a cutscene for her to present herself as drop-dead gorgeous.
I understand that writers need to tap into the physical attractiveness of their actors in order to attract eyeballs (think back to Rachel Green on Friends), but Jess’ personality can never be convincing as long as they treat her as Zooey dressed up as a hipster on Halloween!New Girl was a big disappointment. I have never been a fan of Deschanel’s wide-eyed, monotoned attempts at acting (100 Days of Summer would have been revolting had it not been for the earnest performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Yet, I was hoping that Fox’s writers would back this mannequin act with some serious sitcom substance. Then again, as my friend pointed out to me, when was the last time Fox had a good sitcom?
New Girl is 4 episodes in. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to watch another episode.
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