Twofer this Week

This week, Netflix is also shipping from . . . 

Worcester, MA. 

I hate netflix. 

Netflix Cont'd

This week, Netflix will be delivering to me from . . . 

Flushing, NY.

I hate Netflix. 

"I jumped a mile!"

                           -My Mom, after being surprised by something on Veronica Mars.

Wicked

"Does the Devil ever struggle to be good again?"

                                       -Winnie Holzman, Wicked

Other Cities NetFlix has shipped from

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Daluth, GA

Cleveland, OH

Greensboro, NC

Columbus, OH

Houston, TX

Las Vegas, NV

Freaks and Geeks

Freaks and Geeks

A teen comedy that aired on NBC in 1999-2000.

The Set-Up: After the death of her grandmother, high schooler Lindsay Weir rejects her existence as a geek, dons her father’s army coat, and migrates to the freak crowd (“Freaks? Like circus freaks?!”). Meanwhile, her younger brother remains with his geek friends. As they learn the ins and outs of social networking, a consensus is reached: high school sucks.

Typical episode: Inner turmoil rips thru the freak crowd, causing them to temporarily feud with each other. Meanwhile, the geeks face some outside opposition, but they hang together and get thru it. Usually, girls are involved. Lindsay and Sam get some outdated advice from their parents, who are clueless about the world their kids live in, but are effectual in their own way. The kids learn their most important lessons by breaking rules.

An unseen deity plays era-appropriate rock music.

Typical dialogue: “I kind of wish I didn’t come to school today.”

Typical geek dialogue: “Dodgeball is kind of a stupid game, isn’t it?”

Typical freak dialogue: “Are you calling me irrational? Cause I’ll tear your head off. I’ll tear your head off and throw it over that fence!”

Typical parent dialogue: “You tell them you’re proud of your body. That’ll show ‘em!”

My Favorite Parent Dialogue: “You know who’s funny? That Red Buttons.”

My favorite episodes:

• 1.1 The Pilot. The opening teaser brilliantly sets up the series. The camera panning past the vapid athletes and settling on the slackers under the bleachers and the nerds hanging out behind the bleachers.
  
• 1.4 “Kim Kelly is My Friend” Dinner at Kim Kelly’s house. Holy shit. How insane. Written by Mike White. It was impossible to like Kim Kelly before this episode. Here, she becomes one of my favorite characters. The Freaks invade the Weir residence.
  
• 1.5 “Tests and Breasts” Daniel gets accused of cheating on a test. This episode captures the unreasonable pressures of high school and how teachers give up too easily on particular students. It also showcases Daniel’s keenly honed survival techniques.
  
• 1.6 “I’m With the Band” Nick gets frustrated with his friends over the band. He takes it far more seriously than everyone else, but when he’s left to pursue his interest alone, he doesn’t just give it up. It turns out Locke’s dad was a terrible father even back in 1980. The family dinner scene is brilliant.
  
• 1.10 “The Diary” This episode does an incredible job of depicting how unfair high school life is and how much the adults are to blame for it, and then does an even better job of reversing it so the kids stand up for themselves effectively. This one may be my favorite episode of the series.
  
• 1.12 “The Garage Door” Action’s Connie Hunt is Neal’s Mom. The soapiest of the episodes, but the show wears it well. It follows up old arcs and introduces new ones.
  
• 1.15 “Noshing and Moshing” While I like Daniel’s desire to be a punk rocker, it seems like this interest is too fleeting. It never comes up again. And is getting a piercing really such an awful thing? Daniel’s showing up at Kim’s door is sweet. From here on out, all of the episodes feel more serious and somber. I’m not sure if it’s the show or my mood.
  
• 1.17 “The Little Things” I never did like Cindy. What the hell did Sam ever see in her to begin with? One of my favorite moments: Cindy’s staring stone-faced at The Jerk. I really started to hate Mr. Rosso by his point. Not just because the performance is getting too goofy, but because of the way he writes off some of the kids, and then claims not to.
  

Least Favorites:

• 1.7 “Carded and Discarded” While I understand the dilemma of trying to keep a girl from graduating to a higher echelon of social status, the characters come off as too desperate. And the performances from the guest stars are too over-the-top and don’t fit in.
  
• 1.13 “Chokin’ and Tokin” I really like the character of Alan White, so I was happy to see him get some play. But the freak portion of the episode feels too much like anti-drug propaganda. Boooooooo!
  

How many episodes were produced? 18. I think only 15 or 16 aired.

Is there much continuity? There are few story arcs, but relationships do evolve. Some characters slowly infiltrate the main cliques. Generally, something will come up in one episode, then reappear in a later episode. Most props that show up once make at least one more appearance later on.

Why was it canceled? NBC kept shuffling around the schedule, and an audience never materialized.

Was there closure? It feels like there is closure. The last episode is “Discos and Dragons.” And for the most part, everyone seems to have found where they belong (at least for the moment) by the end of the episode. Boundaries have been crossed. Groups have split. Dungeons & Dragons has been played. And "I Don't Want To Be A Freak" has been heard over the soundtrack. Still, since the show runners suspected it was going to be the last episode, I wish they had worked in more of a good bye to some of the characters. No Millie. No Alan. Not even that hermaphrodite girl. There’s a nice parallel regarding the end of disco coinciding with the end of the series. Of course, disco had never been much of an issue before this episode.

Any unattended issues? A few. Neal has only begun to come to terms with his father’s cheating. Alan White never comes to terms with his geek tendencies. I can’t see Daniel spending the rest of his days enjoying role playing games. Really, it would have been nice to see where the characters end up in life. Or at least, get more of a hint where they will end up. Or maybe even a deliberate denial of what the future holds. As it is now, we just get a shuffling of the characters that could easily be reshuffled a week later. Still, it doesn’t leave you with any unresolved plot arcs. It works as an ending.

The verdict:
One of my favorite shows. The characters are sweet and smart and act like high school kids. And I love how the show sets up the parameters of each semi-permeable clique, and then forces characters to cross the boundaries and interact with characters outside their comfort zones. I especially appreciate how the kids struggle to get by in school while pursuing their own individual interests.

Linda Cardellini’s performance as the honor student who sees through the bullshit is fantastic. From her exasperated looks when talking to unreasonable teachers to the mortified/empathetic looks she gives her friends.

Mr. Weir is too cartoonish at times, but the mom is spot on. The writing perfectly nails that adult cluelessness about the high school experience and never feels forced.

The show really seems like a product of 1980. But it’s a good thing the geeks weren’t into Second City or they might have noticed Sam’s dad on TV. Is there any reference to Second City on this show? It would natural for there to be.

The show feels so accurate about so many things. From the awkwardness of high school, to the fleeting fads of acceptance. It is funny, painful, sad and most of all, completely sympathetic with the kids. I had only seen the final three episodes before buying this set. I’m glad I decided to get it.

An observation: this is the second one season wonder I’ve watched so far that utilizes only the punch line of one particular joke. In Action, the exact punch line was “I rang the doorbell, didn’t I?” Here, the punch line was “How do you think I rang the doorbell?”

Last night, I saw Conor Oberst at the Ryman. I have now seen him perform five times live (four times as Bright Eyes). Three times at the Ryman, once at Grimey's and once at Bonnaroo. That ties him with Jason White as the musician I have seen perform the most. Jason's count: Twice at third and Lindsley, twice at 12th and Porter, and once at Uptown Mix. Tied for second place - with three performances each are Ben Folds and Garth Brooks. At two performances are Nickel Creek and Spoon. I have probably seen other performers more than once, but I can't remember who right off. 

During the performance, Mr. Oberst mentioned his atheism (or what i interporeted as atheism) by joshing a Christian band. And the audience was down with that. Neat. I am happy to be in the company of non-Christians. 

For the record, last night's performance was my favorite of the five.

Netflix Frustrates the Hell out of Me

Ever heard of throttling? That is the unofficial word for the process Netflix uses to slow down your renting habits. Officially, they give higher priority to members who rent less. For "High Users" (aka me), they use various techniques to slow down your renting. For me, they regularly ship my DVDs from absurd locations, rather than anywhere near me - thus slowing down the delivery and return times. 

A few cities they have sent my movies from:

Atlanta, GA

Tacoma, WA

Baton Rouge, LA

Cincinatti, OH

Madison, WI

Phoenix, AZ

Louisville, KY

St. Louis, MO

Sacramento, CA

Springfield, IL

Austin, TX

And others, including some city in Virginia. 

This week, we are shipping from Gaithersburg, MD.

This is absurd. 

Some Chick's First Kiss

Here is some actual conversation I overheard while going to the movies yesterday.

Girl: I got my first kiss. On that spot.

Girl's friend: Awwwwwww.

Girl: All the way down there. It was really awkward. 

Failure

I tried to read 334 by Thomas Disch. I had it out from the library for over two months, but I could not get through it. It wasn't hard to read. It's wasn't uninteresting. I just wasn't into it. I could not bring myself to read it. I have now moved onto another book. 

I have disappointed myself. 

Night Stalker

Night Stalker

A supernatural mystery series that aired on ABC in 2005. It holds the distinction of being a one season remake of a one season original

The Set-Up: Stuart Townsend plays smug Carl Kolchak, an investigative reporter who works crime, but has an eye for supernatural reporting, a division that has been sorely neglected in the mainstream press. He teems up with shrill senior crime reporter Perri Reed and bland photographer Jain McManus, whom Wikipedia describes as “Kolchak's "open-minded" friend.” Together, they strut thru L.A. solving supernatural mysteries that no one else wants solved.

Kolchak hopes to simultaneously discover what happened to his wife, who died years earlier under mysterious circumstances, and reveal to the world the supernatural evils that lurk in the dark. “The public has a right to know.”

Typical episode: First there is the previously-ons which generally consist of each character introducing him or herself. Each episode then opens with overbearing narration from Kolchak. Some random person dies in a bloody, disgusting way. A press conference is held and Kolchak shows up, suspects there is something supernatural afoot, and says, “It’s a simple case of homicide . . . only it isn’t.”

Kolchak and Reed tell each other information they already know. They continue to argue exposition throughout the rest of the episode. At some point, the photographer says, “OK, now you’re creeping me out.” Reed expresses doubt, and backs up her doubt by arguing exposition. Some jerk who thinks Kolchak is crazy insults Kolchak/gives exposition by saying “I’m not the one who killed his wife.”

Then someone else dies in a disgusting bloody way. Kolchak points out, “I think these strange deaths are connected somehow.” Eventually, Kolchak and Reed argue enough exposition to arrive at the right place at exactly the right moment and defeat the supernatural evil. If there’s time, the story will be covered up. Otherwise, we go straight to Kolchak’s closing narration where he talks about evil lurking in the dark.

Typical dialogue: “That’s how he died, but that’s not what killed him. He spent ten years trying to catch a monster. I think the monster finally caught him.”

More dialogue: “All these strange deaths are like a puzzle. Pieces of a puzzle I’m trying to put together.”

More dialogue: “You know me too well, or rather, you don’t know me at all.”

Typical narration: “You start to see that there are terrible evils in the dark. But in seeing, you learn a terrible truth: that you have not found these evils at all, but rather, they have found you.”

My favorite episodes:

• “The Night Strangler” This is actually from the first series. Kolchak, then played by Darren McGavin, must solve the mystery of a carnivorous monster that comes out of hibernation every 23 years to kill, kill, kill. This TV movie was shoddily remade as episode 1.9 “Timeless.”
  

Least Favorite:

• All of them.
  

How many episodes were produced? 10. Only six aired.

Is there much continuity? There is obviously supposed to be. After all, Kolchak has to find out why his wife died. Sadly, the characters don’t act logically enough for there to be any consistency.

Why was it canceled? People seemed to notice this show reeked of horseshit and stayed away.

Was there closure? Not a bit.

Any unattended issues? Nothing but. There’s evil out there. Lurking in the dark.

The verdict: Problem number one – no matter how many times Townsend and the chick playing senior crime reporter Perri Reed claim to be reporters, I don’t believe it. They look and act like models – not reporters who have been working the beat for years.

Problem number two: The exposition. Seriously, seventy percent of each episode is watching people relate “facts” to each other. They look at photographs and describe what they see – as if the audience were blind and couldn’t notice for themselves.

This Shyamalan-lite shit has no logic or mood, attempts to hide this deficiency under a mountain of convolution, then tries to clear up the mess by having characters over-explain it, and then having another character translate what they said to even less convincing jargon, “You’re talking about cultures that eat the glands of animals!”

There is nothing to redeem this show. I started reading a book while it played in the background. The book I’m currently reading is pretty good.

One of the Scariest Things I've Ever Done in my Life

I went to the state fair by myself. I only rode two rides. I was planning to ride more, but this ride took a lot out of me. It was one of the scariest things I've ever done in my life. I was a bit fearful just standing in line. This ride was crazy.

It made my tummy hurt a little. The next ride continued to make my tummy hurt. So I thought, "My next ride is a bench." I had no one to tell that joke to. And there were no benches there. Am I old? Or was that just a crazy, evil ride. I would totally ride it again though 

Garfield Minus Garfield

The Rules of Attraction