Daily Archives: April 23, 2015

Apr 23 2015
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Writing

The Summer of Bookshelf

Take a knee 3.5 readers.1371251154-2

It’s time to talk about this summer – “The Summer of Bookshelf.”

For awhile now, I’ve been working on two separate stories:

1)  Bookshelf Q. Battler and The Meaning of Life – Your host, the reclusive Bookshelf Q. Battler, leaves the Bookshelf Battle Compound and heads out into the world on an adventure in search of mankind’s most elusive question:

Why are the Clippers even allowed in the NBA?

Oh wait.  Sorry.  I was looking at the wrong cue card.

What is the meaning of life?

Finally, we’ll learn a bit more about my magical bookshelf and catch a glimpse at some of those fictional characters as they step out of BQB’s books, drive him crazy, and encourage him in his travels.

2)  Top Secret Project – That’s not the name of the story.  I just, for a variety of reasons, don’t want to share the name at the moment.  I’ve had an idea that I’m pretty proud of and I want to shout it from the rooftops but I realize it will be worth the wait to polish it up a bit first.

You folks have been a blast lately.  The hit counter is climbing, the Google Plussers have been particularly helpful, and inspiration continues to strike.

I have a tendency to be one of those people who puts out what he takes in and all I can say is you all deserve a round of applause.

There’s a method to my madness in this post.  I’ve found a rule to be true with me – if I post it on my blog, it happens.  And since I’m tired of dilly dallying and want these stories out there, I’m announcing them.

I hope to get these both started in May, no later than June.

Stick around, 3.5.  It’s going to get all kinds of fabulous up in this joint.

Meanwhile, if you can’t wait, I’ve had a rough draft of the first chapter of BQB and the Meaning of Life up for awhile:  Take a peak and drop me some feedback.

Pencil graphic courtesy of Keistutis on openclipart.org

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Apr 23 2015
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TV

Community Lives On

EDIT:  I wrote this awhile ago and for whatever reason, never got around to posting it.  Community’s return to Yahoo is old news now but what the hell, let’s talk about it anyway.

I’m sure I can blame this on The Yeti somehow.

It’s the show by Geeks, for Geeks with so much Geek support that it refuses to die.  And now it belongs to the Geekterverse.

Community’s Sixth Season is now available on Yahoo Screen, after five seasons on NBC.  

Since its inception, the show has always had an uphill battle.  If you’re a geek, nerd, dweeb, poindexter or an all around pop culture junkie, then this show is your bag.  On the other hand, if you’re a square like most of America, most of the jokes probably fly right over your head.

With online displays of support, Internet nerds the world over managed to keep NBC from tanking it for years.  In fact, this show has always been a pioneer of the streaming age with droves of fans who didn’t watch in its usual time slot but caught it later on their own terms.

And now it belongs to the web.

The show has suffered some losses in recent years.  Chevy Chase/Pierce Hawthorne to a falling out with show runner Dan Harmon, Donald Glover/Troy to “to be on his own” and according to a letter to his fans, not to focus on his rap career as “Childish Gambino,” and now Yvette Brown/Shirley to take care of her Dad (awww).

With so many exits to the core group, the show isn’t quite the same, though the Season 6 premiere “Ladders” is as nerd-tastic as ever.  Still, I hope no one else leaves.  If Joel McHale/Jeff Winger takes a hike, that will probably be it.

The plot, for those who’ve never seen it?  Community College attendees tend to run a wide gamut – the elderly looking for something to do (Pierce), the lawyer who faked a Bachelor’s and now needs to actually get one (Jeff), the single mom (Shirley), the dumb guy (Troy), the guy who is convinced he’s living in a television show (Abed), the classic overachiever (Annie), and the girl who’s always feeling the need to protest something (Britta).

As a show about college, it was destined to have a short shelf life from the start (after all, college only lasts four years).  Yet, last year in season 5, there was a pretty adept “reboot” in which Jeff and the gang decide their lives are no better than when they first started college.  Jeff stays on as a professor while the rest of the group decides to keep studying.  If it is one thing this show is good at, it is reinventing itself.

“Shows change,” as is pointed out in an exchange between Abed and newcomer Frankie Dart (Paget Brewster).  She’s hired by Dean Pelton to whip the school into shape, but as the group laments, Greendale’s lousiness is what makes it so charming.

Good luck on the web, Community.  Your legion of nerds is behind you, but you’re going to have to come up with a helluva story to keep the gang at college past year 8 (and knowing you people, you probably will easily).

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Apr 23 2015
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TV

How Justified Made Westerns Cool Again

My parents loved Westerns.  I don’t blame them.

I’m not sure of the actual numbers, but I’m willing to bet if someone did a statistical analysis of the subject matter of all films produced between 1950-1980, “Western” would dominate its way straight to the top.

Gene Autry, Chuck Connors, James Arness, John Wayne – the baby boomers loved their cowboys.

https://youtu.be/uIqDKhWmP3k

Justified – Flashbacks – The Beginning – FX

When my parents grew up, became adults, and had me, they often had reruns of shows like Gunsmoke and The Rifleman on.  Or they’d watch one of their favorite cowboy movies over and over.

In recent years, the Bravo Western channel made it possible for them to watch all of these movies and shows on a permanent loop.  I’d visit and there’d they be – glued to the same Western movie they’d seen a hundred times before.

And literally, even if it was a different movie, the plot of most Westerns were the same.  Bad guys did bad things.  The townsfolk were too oppressed and downtrodden to care.  They just took it and accepted it as a part of life.  A righteous lawman blows into town and gives the bad guys a run for their money.  The bad guys get angry and fight back.  They get violent and make life even worse for the townsfolk. The people turn their wrath toward the lawman, blaming him for stirring up trouble.  Can’t he just leave well enough alone and let the bad guys have their way?  In the end, it all culminates in a final showdown where the lawman and a bad guy draw, and the lawman is inevitably faster with the iron.

I can’t count the number of times I made fun of my parents over this.  “Do you guys realize you’re watching the same plot over and over again?”

They didn’t care.  And today as an adult, I get it.  The American West was literally society’s last chance for adventure, at least in this part of the world.  “Go West, Young man” they’d say.

People would head out West to prospect for gold, claim land and farm or become ranchers.  Some would start businesses.  Of course, there was a hearty supply of ne’er-do-wells who took advantage of the lack of an established criminal justice system to cheat, steal, and rob everyone blind, thus providing the fodder for the cornucopia of cowboy flicks that my baby boomer parents held near and dear to their hearts.

All that Western stuff?  It was still going on as of the early 1900’s.  People from the 1950s, like my parents, probably knew an old timer or two who could recount stories they’d heard or read about.  By the middle of the last century, the West was won, but the stories?  They were finally being told thanks to the invention of movies and television and the kids of yesteryear couldn’t get enough.  The West was a limitless supply of adventure.

Somewhere around 1980, that all became lame.  Once in awhile, they still make the occasional good cowboy movie.  Young Guns with Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen (before he went bonkers) was a favorite of mine.

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