I just got around to watching this Thursday’s episode of the Office (Ain’t the flu great?) and while it was better than last weeks episode that isn’t saying much.
‘Sabre’ is all about Dunder Mifflin’s new ownership coming in and setting up shop, and unlike past power shake ups (i.e. Ryan’s take over, Charles Miner, etc) the titular Sabre company appears to have it’s act together (aside form a funny gag with Christian Slater). My fear for the Office’s future lays with making the shows environment too real, allow me to expand on that.
The Office has always towed the line with suspension of disbelief for me with the documentary style and the question of what kind of company would allow a man like Michael to be a manager, and openly waste so many resources, but the presence of Michael Scott has never been to far away from the heart of the show. The loose restrictions put on him by Corporate and the even looser restrictions he places on his employee’s allow for the character development and humor we have come to love from the Office.
Time will tell how Michael Scott and Sabre deal with either other, but the Office’s recent outings have left me with a grim outlook.
Allow me to go off on a semi-related note and ask what is that is causing star characters to what to get behind the camera and direct, and why have the two most recent examples been some of the worst episodes for the series in recent memory?
‘Sabre’ was directed by John Krasinski, and How I Met Your Mother’s ‘Jenkins’ was in the hands of Neil Patrick Harris. Maybe the Producers knew this were weaker episodes and handed them off, or maybe it was just bad writing and bad luck. Both men are fantastic actors and I have nothing but respect for both of them, I just hope the next time they get to direct produces a better episode.
Let me start off by saying that while I did harp on How I Met Your Mother earlier about the lack lusterness of ‘Jenkins’ last night made up for it by giving us the ‘Perfect Week’. I attribute most of the success of the episode to it’s high dose of Vitamin-B(arney)*, which was something sorely missing in ‘Jenkins’, and that leads me into the topic of this post.
*Jim Nantz was fantastic is well
When I was growing up and even up to just a few years when every you met someone named Barney there was always one punch line that was never too far away.
How ever thanks for Neil Patrick Harris and HIMYM the Barney’s of the world now have a much cooler stigma attached to them, and instead of getting sung a slightly disturbing children’s song (I love you, you love me…) they are now simply told to “Suit Up!”
Now if only TV could help break my name stigma, or at the very least stop making it worse.
Three of my favorite shows have recently returned from their respective winter breaks. Usually the coming back episode sets up the events of the later half of the season and rekindles excitement for the show that has been lost over the break, but that practice seems to have been lost in favor of coming back as if nothing has happened in the interim month in a half.
It’s been a personal favorite since I was introduced to it late second season, but the return episode “Sam Interrupted” while it would have been fine had it aired Nov. 26th, but being forced to wait till Jan 21st for this episode just seemed like a let down, and a poor follow up to the fantastic “Abandon All Hope…”
Don’t get my wrong “Girls Versus Suits” was one of the better episodes of HIMYM I’ve seen in awhile and well worth the month wait, but after GvS came an awkward little episode called “Jenkins” which leads us into another two week mini-break for the show with forced catch phrases, a lack of Neil Patrick Harris screen time, and a horrible Marshall/Lily story. It’s not the worst episode HIMYM has thrown at us, but the bad taste is sticking around because we don’t get to see any more of the gang till Feb 1st.
Okay Office… Who thought this was a good idea? A month and a half break, coming back for one episode than another week off, and you make that one episode a recap clip show? Are you Serious? I have never been a fan of recap episodes and have yet to meet anyone who has enjoyed a recap episode, so the logic behind this move just confuses me to no end, but when you consider that it’s from NBC the stupidity of it doesn’t seem as bad in comparison to other recent events on the network.
James Cameron returns to form with the sci-fi epic Avatar, a film who’s hype has seemed to have touched almost everyone in it’s lengthy production time. Should you believe the hype?
Sure
…I mean if you really want to.
When I went to see Avatar yesterday I did so knowing the basic story elements before hand. Solider comes to strange new environment, gets involved with the native culture, and eventually betraying his old life in the defense of his new one. While none of it is really new, none of it really needs to be, Cameron uses his masterful control of the medium to bring Pandora to life and allow us the pleasure of getting engrossed in his wild, savage, and beautiful dreamscape.
While their is a ensemble cast composed of Termintor Salvation’s only saving grace Sam Worthington, Cameron Veteran Sigourney Weaver, Lost’s Michelle Rodriguez, and Joel Moore from Grandma’s Boy, none of them get as much screen time as Pandora, and what an actor Pandora is.
Worthington, who for for some reason reminds me of a more likeable and serious Chris Evans (though Evans was good in Sunshine) plays Ex-Marine Corporal Jack Sully. In the film you never quite get all the information on where he is coming from, but you are given enough to know that his fires of his motivation died along with his brother. Lucky for us he soon gets re-motivated when he discovers that he gets to run around as one of the Na’vi (Hey! Listen!)
The person that makes that all possible is Dr. Grace Augstine (Weaver) who starts out rather upset that she is being forced to use Jack because she was expecting his brother who had apparently trained to be an Avatar Diver for three years.
She still however has Norm Spellman (Moore) who feels like Salieri for awhile before coming around to accept Sully as part of the Science team and a friend.
Getting the Science team to and from where it needs to go is snarky pilot Trudy Chacon (Rodriguez) who starts out as your typical Cameron pilot (flashs of Ferro) but comes to side with her companions on the Science team in the end.
Now getting back to what stole the show for me, Pandora. It’s easy to get lost in the lush jungles, glorious vistas, and locations of Pandora. Every part of it felt alive, and I was completely taken in and absorbed by the masterful creation.
To wrap this up I would like to address some of the more negative criticism out there for Avatar. To all those that would say “It’s CG, it looks fake” or “I like practical effects” As a fellow fan of practical effects this film still took me right in and never let go. “But Floating Mountains, that’s not possible!” Seriously? You took some of the most breath taking imagery and ripped it apart to “That’s not possible?” Seeing the impossible as the ordinary, isn’t that why we go to movies in the 1st place? To escape our world for a few hours and live life through a different point of view?
Sure we all have out place to disagree on the how much one my enjoy a movie or not, but if you can no longer walk into that theater, suspend some disbelief, and enjoy some escapism I think you need to ask yourself why you are going to the movies to begin with.
Just go out and see Avatar if you haven’t already, in 3D IMAX if you can
While I only got patched into Sons of Anarchy briefly before the start of the 2nd season it swiftly became one of my favorite shows after doing a media binge on season one.
For those not in know, Sons of Anarchy is the brain child of Shield alumni Kurt Sutter about a Motorcycle club in the fictional town of Charming, California who struggle to retain their control over the town as well as getting out of holes that end up digging for themselves. Debuting on FX in September 2008 it quickly picked up lost Shield watchers and captured the 18-49 demographic nicely leading it to be one of FX’s heavy hitters., and last night saw the end of season two with some major cliffhangers that will haunt us till the return of the show in fall 2010 (assuming FX can finish it’s contract negotiations in a timely manner).
Where the 1st season sets up our cast of characters, their motives, and struggles, the 2nd season is where we have really been able to see a lot of that careful preparation pay off in spades. With top notch acting from Charlie Hunnam as the loyalty torn step son of current club president Ron Perlem, and the fantastic job of Ryan Hurst as the emotionally scared Opie along with the rest of this powerful ensemble cast, if you haven’t signed yourself up as a prospect I highly recommend picking up the 1st season and joining the Sons of Anarchy.
Infinity Ward’s Juggernaut Modern Warfare 2 was on the gravy train to being the largest game launch of the year when Community Manager Robert Bowling appeared on Bash and Slash on October 17th. During the course of the podcast Bowling called in an air strike on the PC gaming community, and the effects of which are just echoing through out the internet. Dedicated Servers, the backbone of Online FPS (First Person Shooter) gaming, are removed in favor of their own program called IWNet.
Now I could attempt to explain the downsides of this but DrWheel has done a much better job than I could do.
Now what does this all have to do with precedent setting?
1st, Infinity Ward is trying to lead PC Online Gaming into areas the community clearly does not want to go.
2nd, PC Games have always been slightly cheaper than Console games due to not having to pay the cost of licensing, but Modern Warfare 2 for PC is flying the 59$ price tag of it’s Console Counterparts.
To buy this game is to support removal of community control from the players, and to support rising prices for no other reason than assuming people will pay for it anyway.
