Holy Crap, 3.5 readers!
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
Seemed like it was coming for awhile but no one was ever sure but bam, it happened. Rick and Michonne got it on, did the hibbitty dibbitty horizontal mambo and breathed fresh life into Dr. King’s dream amidst the zombie apocalypse.
“Richonne” is now a thing. Good for them.
What’s up with this Jesus guy?
Hey 3.5 Readers.
The Walking Dead is back!
SPOILER ALERT!
Wow. The general consensus is this is one of the best episodes of the series, perhaps the most emotional one.
We lost some recurring characters. Jessie, Ron, Sam – the whole porch dick family is gone.
Rick’s Valentine’s Day was ruined. He really wanted some Jessie action.
Carl’s eye is gone. Poor Carl.
Father Gabriel had a redemption moment.
The Alexandrians had their stand.
Dale has replaced his crossbow with a rocket launcher.
What say you, 3.5 readers?
Did you know that December 23rd is the date that George Constanza and his family celebrated “Festivus” on Seinfeld?
Ever since that episode, I’ve always considered Dec. 23rd to be Festivus. So perform the feats of strength then gather ’round the aluminum pole for the annual airing of the grievances.
What grievances do you have, 3.5 readers?
I thought it was one of the top Walking Dead episodes I’ve seen thus far.
I do wonder though – if escaping the walkers is as easy as whipping on a zombie guts poncho, why don’t they just always have zombie guts soaked ponchos on standby to throw on in the event of a zombie attack?
What did you think, 3.5 readers?
Hey nerds,
I haven’t had a chance to write about it and my old pal Zombie Trump has been busy, but I just wanted to ask what everyone thinks about this season. I think its turning out to be one of the better ones so far.
What say you, 3.5 readers?
Hey 3.5.
BQB here.
Very rarely do I ever get political or controversial on this site.
Actually, I think this would be the first time.
If you haven’t heard yet, Steve Rannazzisi, the comedian who plays Kevin MacArthur on FX’s The League, admitted to lying about being in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
According to news reports, he has, over the years, told a story during interviews that he worked in WTC, was jostled by the plane impact, and was able to leave the building in time to save himself. That “experience” he said, motivated him to decide “life is too short” and to quit his job and head out to LA to pursue his dream of acting.
In his public apology, he claims that he began telling this story as a young man, that his was something stupid he did due to his youth and has long felt bad about it.
This makes me sad for a number of reasons, one of them being, I love The League.
If you’ve never seen the show, it follows a group of friends in a fantasy football league who bring visit all manner of torture upon one another in the name of getting a leg up on their make believe sports game.
I’ll watch the final season because at this point, I’m invested in the show. I’ve always found it to be unique and creative in a sea of just the same.
But after this, I fail to see how Rannazzisi ever works again. Personally, I think lying about being involved in 9/11 is unforgivable but even if more open minded folk than I give him a break, I still fail to see how anyone could watch him in another show or movie and not think, “There’s the douche that lied about 9/11.”
So I’ll be very surprised if his career isn’t over.
Be honest, folks. Lying has always been wrong, and in today’s information age, it’s easier to be caught in a whopper than ever.
10. Some random business guy enters the room to talk about business. You’ve paid so little attention to the business side of the show that you can’t tell if this is a new character or if he’s been around since the first episode.
9. Don dies. Wakes up to find his vision of Heaven is to be surrounded by women who are cool with him cheating.
8. Spin-off: Roger and Don move to Hawaii to become private detectives. AMC next fall – “Sterling and the Drape!”
7. Flash forward to the future. They’re all in the 90’s, decrepit and old. “Internet marketing? That’ll never go anywhere!”
6. Meanwhile a middle aged Peggy sees the Internet as the next best thing, invests, becomes uber rich.
5. Joan remembered as the leader of the hot women’s right to be taken seriously in the business world movement.
4. You suddenly remember there are other people on the show besides Don, Pete, Peggy, Joan and Roger. What happened to them? Oh well, who cares.
3. Megan’s cover of Zou Bisou Bisou ranks at the top of the charts.
2. Don quits the ad game to become Super Dad.
1. Roger gets a bionic heart, continues peddling ads till the end of time.
REPEAT – SPOILERS AND PREDICTIONS
Mad Men. It’s a historical drama at a time when history doesn’t translate well into big bucks, yet somehow it’s stayed afloat since 2007.
I picked it up around 2010 and have been a fan ever since.
Sometimes I wonder why. Here’s a breakdown of the show:
DON: Business business?
PETE: Business!
ROGER: Play play! Who cares about business?!
DON: Business schmizness! Women!
PETE: Family?
DON: WOMEN!
PETE: Yes. Women.
ROGER: Me three women!
VARIOUS OTHER ADMEN: Did you business up the business?
DON: Business business.
PETE: 60’s reference. Business.
PEGGY: Women should get to be in business too!
JOAN: Hot women should also get to do business!
PEGGY: Say, what’s that supposed to mean! I thought we were in this together!
In other words, the advertising deals these “Advertising Men of Madison Avenue” or “Mad Men” make are half the story line, yet I just don’t have the strength to follow who messed up the Sunkist account, or who’s pitching a proposal to General Motors or who made some executive at Phillip Morris angry it’s like…come on.
On the other hand, often the business talk is just a setup to discuss historical issues, explain how things today got the way they are, and have the characters interact with one another, often in sad ways.
DON DRAPER – As the series leading man, Draper (Jon Hamm) does horrible things, yet you usually end up feeling sorry for him. He cheats on first wife, Betty and loses her. He remarries second wife, Megan, an aspiring actress and at that point you’d think he has it all but he just can’t stop cheating.
You (ok let me stop saying ‘you’ because I don’t know what you think.)
I don’t approve of Don’s behavior, but the show takes us inside his mind and ever so subtly explains why he’s such a notorious philanderer, who can’t stop himself even though he actually wants to.
It’s all about life, or rather, the fact that it’s in short supply. Don grew up in “a house of ill repute” the son of a random lady of the evening. No one wanted him. His life pretty much sucked.
Flash forward years later (and after some chicanery in the service that we won’t mention) he’s a big shot ad executive, raking in money hand over fist, hobnobbing with rich and powerful people.
His first wife Betty (January Jones) is beautiful and would make most men happy. And true enough, Don loves her and his kids but – life! It’s like there’s this little voice that tells him “It’s all going to stop any minute, better scoop up all the women you can!”
So he does. He gives in. Then he feels bad because the dalliances are fleeting and meaningless. Depressed and lonely, he searches for another relationship only to ruin that when he cheats again! He’s constantly torn between the “get as much drinking and partying and womanizing I can before I’m dead” vs. “Gee I’m lonely I sure wish my family didn’t hate me so I could spend time with them.”
Food for thought – we all say we’d never be a Don. Keep in mind though, there are few Dons in the world. You don’t know what you’d do if women were constantly flinging themselves at you. In Don’s defense, it’s kind of like he just walks outside in the morning and has women rain down on him.
So that’s what I learned from Don – that we need to balance the need to live life to the fullest vs. the need to live life on a day to day basis.
BETTY DRAPER (AND LATER, FRANCIS) – Forget the history text books and documentaries, everything you need to know about the women’s right movement you can learn from watching Betty.
Betty isn’t without faults but she’s a top notch wife. I wouldn’t mind a Betty. When Don cheats, you, as the viewer realize the predicament 1960’s women found themselves in:
A) They’re unemployed and have no money, so they can’t hire a lawyer.
B) Therefore, they can get divorced if they want, but losing the man=loss of only source of financial support.
C) Since man has the money, he’ll hire a lawyer and therefore present a better case ending up with him getting the kids (which he’ll probably just have a maid watch them because back then it was ok to just hire a random lady to watch your kid for 3 bucks an hour).
D) Woman’s choices are 1) Remain in bad marriage, be a cheated on doormat 2) Leave, lose your kids and be destitute or
E) 3) Find another man! That was Betty’s only option. She found Francis, an older man who treated her better. Betty basically moves from being supported by Don to being supported by Francis. He’s a better husband by far, but had he not come along she probably would have just had to put up with being cheated on till the end of time.
You heard it here first. You can learn everything about the history women’s rights by watching Betty
PREDICTIONS (AND SPOILERS) – Betty’s dying. Sigh. Has to end on a sad note. Don, after working his whole life to finally get to the top of the ad man game, walked out of a big meeting, putting his career on the line to go on some kind of odd existential cross country road trip.
I assume this means that after Betty passes, he’ll collect his sons and raise them in his retirement, finally realizing that it’s better to put permanent family over fleeting fancy.
Then again, he might stick them in an orphanage because he’s kind of an ass.
Personally, I think they should have a flash forward to the 90’s where all the Mad Men are old as dirt, say, “Internet advertising? That’ll never take off!” and then they all croak.
Thanks Mad Men. It’s been interesting.
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).
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.
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.
Bookshelf Battle 