I’m going to talk a lot about television again, but this time it’s about some of my personal likes & dislikes, as well as the current news. Let’s face it, what we grew up on and even loved as kids in the genre of situation comedy has died, but some shows just didn’t realize it. There were remnants of the vanilla, stale sitcom format that were little more than poorly made clones of the COSBY show, recycling the same plots and family friendly nonsense with no sense of risk, subsequently no sense of freshness either. The two most blatant ripoffs that also lacked any kind of humor (to me anyways) were THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JIM with Jim Belushi and Damon Wayans’ MY WIFE AND KIDS. Thankfully both have been cancelled as of this week. Sometimes God does smile on me, even though she throws me an occasional left turn.
My single most favorite show, 24 with Kiefer Sutherland has been renewed for 2 more seasons. As I explained to this cool German guy who works for Wikipedia I met in Europe in March, I don’t take the show seriously. It’s practically a farce in that the concept of 24 hours of “real time” (where mystically, no action scenes can take place during the commercial breaks, and yet the counter still goes on), and that so much happens to this one single guy that it borders on being its own situation comedy. Originally, the show was conceived as a single season, 24 episode mini series. It was so popular and so well made that they are on their 6th season, only minus the original director who brought so much style to the look and feel of the show (Stephen Hopkins), and Jon Cassar as taken over the director/executive producer reigns and does an amazing job. Now, strangely, this season has been uneven. The first 4 hours were some of the best TV viewing I’ve ever seen, but then it has staggered on the rest of the year. Since I don’t take the show that seriously, two more seasons won’t be bad. What was most odd was hearing how the German Wikipedia guy viewed the show ever so seriously and thought it was indicative of the American “cowboy” mentalities and that the violence on screen had a palpable effect on viewers. Then that bastard almost spoiled that week’s episode that I had TiVo’d to watch at home and I almost went Jack Bauer on his ass!
Lost has redeemed itself this season. Although in the minority, I thought the 6 episode season start, then long break until a February return for consecutive episodes was a GOOD idea, and it worked for me. After getting back in the groove, the stories and episodes were starting to feel like maybe the writers/producers MAY have a plan (jury is still out for me). These last few episodes have been revitalizing to me. They come on the heels of the formal announcement last week that they have absolutely set an end date for the series. Three more seasons, each one (following 24’s plan) start in January and run consecutive to May sweeps. They are also abridged seasons of only 16 episodes each year (as opposed to the usual 20-24 eps of other series). In January the Exec Producers were publicly stating they wanted to end the series at a specific date to pay off the larger storylines. When ABC announced the official end date agreement, they were more surprised than anyone… Most writer/producers want a successful series to run until it falters and dies a horrible death, but everyone made as much money as possible before that point. Here are some people who wanted to tell a story and not be embarrassed when it “jumped the shark”. As long as they keep finding excuses each season to show Kate in a bra & panties, their ratings will never slip too far, although they are down as much as 10 million views less this year.
Those are my thoughts on TV so far, although my love of the American version of THE OFFICE is not mentioned, all I can say is that next year they will be cranking out 30 episodes, some of them being 1 hour specials. The quality has maintained in every single episode over 3 seasons so far, and that is encouraging. THIS is how a sitcom gets re-invented.
11 million views so far on GROUPER.COM and that is A LOT. GROUPER.COM is owned by Sony Pictures and the people running the site like Sonnyboo movies , so that helps a lot in that I do no promotion for it, really. Some movies only have 20 views, and then there are the 3 big hitters with over 3 million views each.
My intern Rachel is widdling away at making some new HORRORS OF WAR web docs, that may get totaled up with the other docs and make an entire feature length documentary. We have over 17 hours of footage behind the scenes of the shoot, and then close to 20 hours of interviews shot over the course of a year after the movie was made. I am still fed up with anything HORRORS OF WAR, but a feature length documentary on the movie and how it was made may be a nice gift to the people who worked on it and invested in us and the movie. A 75-90 minute documentary, especially getting the educational, basics of filmmaking angles I like might make this a worthwhile venture overall. When we made the 39 minute documentary for the DVD release (which may or may not even be included on the DVD), John Whitney and I were a bit rushed and hurried. It also had the connotation as being a “DVD extra” so the music, titles, etc. were all made more for that. Plus, a lot of people who were taped in interviews never even got a line in the documentary. A total re-edit of all the interviews and clips so far would be in order and this is a tall order. In many ways, I think the journey to make the movie sums a bigger whole than the movie itself.
Goodnight Cleveland continues to be edited here too. This feature is odd. It was a bunch of comedians improvising and as happens, they tend to go more dramatic than to the funny. We (the subjective “we” since I am not involved directly in the edit yet) are also editing it scene by scene because there was no script, so no definite order of scenes, plus the director and producer both now live in California. I edited a scene last night myself to help get the amount of footage edited sped up. I didn’t want to get too involved and see a rough cut before diving in on a fine cut.
More news soon. I’m gearing up to go to Wheeling to see THE COURIER from Greg Sabo and Mark Burson. I liked everything I’ve seen so far.
Peace to the world, especially the Acolytes of Boo.
- PJR
Thursday, May 17, 2007
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED!
May 17th, 2007
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Whirlwind Evangelical Monstrosities
May 3rd, 2007
My dear acolytes, your faithful narrator has remained as busy as ever. I’m so busy and also quite tired that I shan’t go see the midnight show of Spider-man 3 tonight. I’m going to wait until tomorrow like so many others. I prefer to see the midnight screenings of the big “event movies” that are to my liking because the anticipation and audience reactions are quite fun. I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, but a midnight screening with dorks dressed in school boy (and school girl) outfits always make for an entertaining event. Experiencing a movie with all the fandom separates the movie-going from just seeing it plainly at home on a DVD.
Maybe the Friday late afternoon crowd will be still pumped….
I re-watched SPIDERMAN 1 and the new SIPDERMAN 2.1 DVD. I like these flicks. The comic book lived as a staple in my childhood. I recall the exact issues when the new black suit came out and when it eventually morphed into VENOM, and even my first issues ever were the first ever appearance of the HOBGOBLIN. I have long since sold my collection, but I kept some graphic novels and trade paperbacks because the storylines heavily influenced my writing and stories. Chris Claremont and John Byrne in particular greatly affected my interest in long form storytelling.
I got a book on the making of GRINDHOUSE, the Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez ode to drive in-style movies. By the time the announcement of the fake trailer came about including the “S.S. Werewolves” one by Rob Zombie, I was numb to any potential similarities to HORRORS OF WAR. One element that I had completely not gotten was that in January 2006 when we premiered HORRORS OF WAR, I had made a DVD of old grind house style trailer and drive in movie theatre interstitials to play in the theatre leading up to the screening to set up the “mood” for our “B” movie. I had hit the trend before it was trendy, but then again I was equally influenced by the same movies and styles by watching “Super host” on WUAB on Saturday afternoons and “Big Chuck and Little John” midnight movies before anyone had cable TV. Sonny Chiba, Bruce lee, and King Kong were staples of my youth. Reading this book reminded me of all the things I had in mind with HORRORS OF WAR, except now that their movie GRINDHOUSE has bombed entirely, none of it is a useful marketing tool. Oh well.
I’m still doing a lot of film and video work for other people. My freelance is at an all time high, which is good, but the waiting for pay really sucks. It’s hard to plan your finances when you have no clue if a check is due in 3 days or 3 weeks. This lifestyle is NOT for everyone. I need to make the money, so all I can do is keep astute records of money owed and wait until the cash cow starts mooing.
Luckily, there’s nothing new to report in the realm of stalkers, freaks, geeks, or drama. Everything seems to have faded away on those fronts. Maybe it’s because I don’t have the time to give a rat’s ass, or maybe they have found someone/something better to fixate on. Either way, my life has less weirdness.
Well my new car, a 2005 Ford Mustang GT is not all it’s cracked up to be. I mean, I knew I was getting a used car, but I was hoping something this new would have less trouble. Thank god I’ve been making butt-loads of cash money to cover all the repairs that have already come up. I think I’ll sell it off early next year once I’ve gotten some miles on it, but the new jobs are paying it off quick. I might give it to My Sexy Fiancé Veronica, if she’s a good girl.
The cats have complained that the media is not portraying their country fairly. All these blogs ever do is focus on the strife and trouble, but never anything positive. The army has built bridges, and some of the younger cats love the soldiers. It doesn’t matter that several hundred innocent civilians die a week. It’s all about balance. Our congress has put forth a bill that would basically pull troops out of Rossdonia this fall, but let’s face it, that would let the terrorists win. Then again, I think that if I don’t give them milk every morning that this would let the terrorists win. They also said that if I didn’t play with a string with them, then that would let the terrorists win too. Politics are a strange and ignorant game to play.
Last week a new $75 hard cover book about the making of the original STAR WARS was released to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the release of the film, May 25th 1977. STAR WARS was the first film I ever saw in the theatre and it changed everything about my life. The first 45” record I ever owned was the STAR WARS Main Title and B-side Cantina Band. The first album I ever owned was the 2 LP soundtrack. John Williams’ score made me want to be a musician and I was for over 20 years. The movie itself opened my mind and imagination into believing that ANYTHING is possible. If that crazy geek named George Lucas could get those visions from his imagination onto a movie screen where anyone can see it, then that kicked ass. In the years since, my mind has been avidly interested in HOW he got his vision on screen and that later translated into becoming a filmmaker myself. I know the prequels were a disappointment and I don’t care. It doesn’t unring the bell for me. I want the book and I ordered it today. I thumbed through it at Barnes and Noble and it rocks. The hardback edition has 30+ more pages of storyboards and other interesting bits the soft cover edition does not. I’ll save over $30 ordering it online.
Speaking of books, I did read & finish THE CHILDREN OF HURIN, the last JRR TOLKEIN book to be published posthumously and also, the most completed work since THE SILMARILLION. It’s actually a story told in summary form in the SILMARILLION, but this is a pretty full and clear account of this story. It’s my 2nd favorite SILMARILLION tale and it is a good story. This book rocks my socks and even though it lacks the depth of emotion that reading the SILMARILLION carries in terms of impact, then again neither does THE LORD OF THE RINGS, to be quite honest. There are some characters that are affected and changed (or killed) in this story that without the spine of history the SILMARILLION gives it, the level of tragedy somehow gets lessened, but not enough that the casual reader won’t get it or get something out of this story on its own. Hopefully some people will get this, and then go back into THE SILMARILLION to get the back story in full.
Well, the big big big news is that over at GROUPER.COM, old Sonnyboo shorts have exceeded the 10 million views mark. Three of the movies have over 3 million views each, and that rocks. I’m a little bit blown away by the exceptionally high numbers. I haven’t been promoting the movies. I just upload them and see what happens. With so many sites like YOUTUBE, METACAFE, IFILM, UNDERGROUNDFILM, MOTIONBOX, and a slew of other clone sites, I’ve tried to keep up, but then again I have a life outside of the Internet (and that is a shocking revelation to most Acolytes of Boo). Regardless, 10 million is a big number no matter how you cut it. Sony Pictures owns GROUPER.COM and some of the people behind the scenes there have taken note of the numbers and have contacted me.
My dear acolytes, your faithful narrator has remained as busy as ever. I’m so busy and also quite tired that I shan’t go see the midnight show of Spider-man 3 tonight. I’m going to wait until tomorrow like so many others. I prefer to see the midnight screenings of the big “event movies” that are to my liking because the anticipation and audience reactions are quite fun. I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, but a midnight screening with dorks dressed in school boy (and school girl) outfits always make for an entertaining event. Experiencing a movie with all the fandom separates the movie-going from just seeing it plainly at home on a DVD.
Maybe the Friday late afternoon crowd will be still pumped….
I re-watched SPIDERMAN 1 and the new SIPDERMAN 2.1 DVD. I like these flicks. The comic book lived as a staple in my childhood. I recall the exact issues when the new black suit came out and when it eventually morphed into VENOM, and even my first issues ever were the first ever appearance of the HOBGOBLIN. I have long since sold my collection, but I kept some graphic novels and trade paperbacks because the storylines heavily influenced my writing and stories. Chris Claremont and John Byrne in particular greatly affected my interest in long form storytelling.
I got a book on the making of GRINDHOUSE, the Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez ode to drive in-style movies. By the time the announcement of the fake trailer came about including the “S.S. Werewolves” one by Rob Zombie, I was numb to any potential similarities to HORRORS OF WAR. One element that I had completely not gotten was that in January 2006 when we premiered HORRORS OF WAR, I had made a DVD of old grind house style trailer and drive in movie theatre interstitials to play in the theatre leading up to the screening to set up the “mood” for our “B” movie. I had hit the trend before it was trendy, but then again I was equally influenced by the same movies and styles by watching “Super host” on WUAB on Saturday afternoons and “Big Chuck and Little John” midnight movies before anyone had cable TV. Sonny Chiba, Bruce lee, and King Kong were staples of my youth. Reading this book reminded me of all the things I had in mind with HORRORS OF WAR, except now that their movie GRINDHOUSE has bombed entirely, none of it is a useful marketing tool. Oh well.
I’m still doing a lot of film and video work for other people. My freelance is at an all time high, which is good, but the waiting for pay really sucks. It’s hard to plan your finances when you have no clue if a check is due in 3 days or 3 weeks. This lifestyle is NOT for everyone. I need to make the money, so all I can do is keep astute records of money owed and wait until the cash cow starts mooing.
Luckily, there’s nothing new to report in the realm of stalkers, freaks, geeks, or drama. Everything seems to have faded away on those fronts. Maybe it’s because I don’t have the time to give a rat’s ass, or maybe they have found someone/something better to fixate on. Either way, my life has less weirdness.
Well my new car, a 2005 Ford Mustang GT is not all it’s cracked up to be. I mean, I knew I was getting a used car, but I was hoping something this new would have less trouble. Thank god I’ve been making butt-loads of cash money to cover all the repairs that have already come up. I think I’ll sell it off early next year once I’ve gotten some miles on it, but the new jobs are paying it off quick. I might give it to My Sexy Fiancé Veronica, if she’s a good girl.
The cats have complained that the media is not portraying their country fairly. All these blogs ever do is focus on the strife and trouble, but never anything positive. The army has built bridges, and some of the younger cats love the soldiers. It doesn’t matter that several hundred innocent civilians die a week. It’s all about balance. Our congress has put forth a bill that would basically pull troops out of Rossdonia this fall, but let’s face it, that would let the terrorists win. Then again, I think that if I don’t give them milk every morning that this would let the terrorists win. They also said that if I didn’t play with a string with them, then that would let the terrorists win too. Politics are a strange and ignorant game to play.
Last week a new $75 hard cover book about the making of the original STAR WARS was released to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the release of the film, May 25th 1977. STAR WARS was the first film I ever saw in the theatre and it changed everything about my life. The first 45” record I ever owned was the STAR WARS Main Title and B-side Cantina Band. The first album I ever owned was the 2 LP soundtrack. John Williams’ score made me want to be a musician and I was for over 20 years. The movie itself opened my mind and imagination into believing that ANYTHING is possible. If that crazy geek named George Lucas could get those visions from his imagination onto a movie screen where anyone can see it, then that kicked ass. In the years since, my mind has been avidly interested in HOW he got his vision on screen and that later translated into becoming a filmmaker myself. I know the prequels were a disappointment and I don’t care. It doesn’t unring the bell for me. I want the book and I ordered it today. I thumbed through it at Barnes and Noble and it rocks. The hardback edition has 30+ more pages of storyboards and other interesting bits the soft cover edition does not. I’ll save over $30 ordering it online.
Speaking of books, I did read & finish THE CHILDREN OF HURIN, the last JRR TOLKEIN book to be published posthumously and also, the most completed work since THE SILMARILLION. It’s actually a story told in summary form in the SILMARILLION, but this is a pretty full and clear account of this story. It’s my 2nd favorite SILMARILLION tale and it is a good story. This book rocks my socks and even though it lacks the depth of emotion that reading the SILMARILLION carries in terms of impact, then again neither does THE LORD OF THE RINGS, to be quite honest. There are some characters that are affected and changed (or killed) in this story that without the spine of history the SILMARILLION gives it, the level of tragedy somehow gets lessened, but not enough that the casual reader won’t get it or get something out of this story on its own. Hopefully some people will get this, and then go back into THE SILMARILLION to get the back story in full.
Well, the big big big news is that over at GROUPER.COM, old Sonnyboo shorts have exceeded the 10 million views mark. Three of the movies have over 3 million views each, and that rocks. I’m a little bit blown away by the exceptionally high numbers. I haven’t been promoting the movies. I just upload them and see what happens. With so many sites like YOUTUBE, METACAFE, IFILM, UNDERGROUNDFILM, MOTIONBOX, and a slew of other clone sites, I’ve tried to keep up, but then again I have a life outside of the Internet (and that is a shocking revelation to most Acolytes of Boo). Regardless, 10 million is a big number no matter how you cut it. Sony Pictures owns GROUPER.COM and some of the people behind the scenes there have taken note of the numbers and have contacted me.
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