What a week. I am currently drowning in work, going crazy - basically, no time to be blogging. Thses last few days have been insane. Tuesday the transaction of 10% of my soul to General Electric was complete, as I spent a whole day at Universal for new staff orientation, which included a multi-hour tour of the Universal lot and exhaustive lectures on conduct, benefits, company history, etc. My head is stil lrecovering from the information overload. Tuesday night, some friends and I got to roll VIP-style to the Clippers vs Suns game at Staples. The game was a blowout but a great time nonetheless - I'm a big SUNS fan from way back and Nash, Marion, and Amare are some of my favorite players to watch on the court. Plus, we even saw Frankie Muniz - sitting courtside right in front of us and sporting a punk-rock mohawk! Check it out - the kid standing up in the bottom-center:
Also, the game was great as I've been on a big NBA kick of late, thanks to ALL STAR WEEKEND. Awesome stuff on All-Star Saturday Night, as Barkley vs. Bavetta in their EPIC race was one of the most hilarious things I've seen in a while. Barkley reaffirmed why he is my all-time favorite sports figure - in a matter of minutes he rattled off several instant-classic quotables before and after his race with 67 year old Bavetta. My favorite: "Dick is old. But I got nothing against old people - I hope to be one someday." Classic. The dunk contest was solid, and it was cool to see a Celtic win it in Gerald Green, who had some sick dunks. The Celtics needed some kind of victory, as their team this year is pathetic. As Barkley says, Dennis Johnson is rolling over in his grave! Trade Paul Pierce already! One thing though - Michael Jordan was way too harsh a judge, and he and some of the others totally robbed Dwight Howard as his put-a-sticker-on-the-top-of-the-backboard dunk was just plain sick. That one will be remembered for a while to come. Still, congrats to Green, who had some freakishly awesome jams as well. The 3 point contest was great as well, though the actual game on Sunday was kind of a letdown as the East got clobbered.
Otherwise, I had a fun, packed 3-day weekend that took me from Burbank to celebrate new jobs, to West LA to hang with some fellow Jews via J-Connect, to Pasadena to celebrate birthdays, to Universal to see the crapfest that was Ghost Rider. Good times.
Some TV STUFF:
24 - Decent episode on Monday. Decent by 24 standards still = fairly kickass, but the somewhat haphazard plotting around the reveal that Jack's dad is the Big Bad of the season has brought things down a notch. For example -- why is Jack seemingly so accepting of the fact that his hitherto estranged-but-non-evil Dad is in fact a stone cold conspirator and killer? And what, exactly, is Papa Bauer's motivation in all this? Still - the first half of Monday's ep was 24 at its best - nonstop adrenaline-soaked action. And Morris, as I've mentioned, is becoming the breakout supporting character of the season. Good stuff from him. But one other thought -- I was surprised at how unexcited I was about former President Logan's return. While he was a great character last season, his storyarc really kind of ran its course, and the way he was introduced it felt like he was being shoehorned in to an already convoluted plotline. I will be much more excited to see the return of AARON PIERCE, or even MIKE NOVAK. Still, it remains to be seen just how well Logan will be used in the coming episodes.
My Grade: B+
PRISON BREAK - Another pretty fun episode though a slight letdown from the sheer amazingness that was the ep from 2 weeks ago. Some of the Mahone vs. The Escapees stuff is starting to get a little routine. And the T-Bag flashbacks were a little odd. But still, this show is now one of my weekly faves. Good stuff.
My Grade: B+
HEROES - Claire vs. her father is now, easily, the best plotline on this show. Hiro's stuff has gotten a bit pointless, Claude's role as Obi Wan to Peter's Luke is kind of odd (why is he training him in hand to hand combat ...?), and Mohinder still pretty much sucks. Most of this show's plotlines feel meandering and directionless - I mean, what is the actual PLOT of this show? - but Claire's confrontation with her outed Dad is compelling and dramatic. And yes, that Stan Lee cameo was awesome - just seeing him appear in a show that basically owes its existence to him was kind of chill-inducing. but then again I'm a nerd like that.
My Grade: B
GILMORE GIRLS - A great episode that, again, really did a great job of moving things forward and setting up the show's big picture. Great cameos from everyone from Kirk to Ms. Patty to the ever-quotable Paris. Great handling of Lorelai and her interactions with her mother - they are really handling both the heart attack and Chris breakup storylines well right now. I can't wait for next week's Lane-centric ep.
My Grade: A -
LOST - Okay, I've defended this show of late but last night's ep was admittedly pretty weak. Weren't 3 of the show's biggest mysteries supposed to be explained? This show told us virtually nothing about anything, except that (gasp!) The Others don't actually live on that island. At this point, who really cares? Also, we were bombarded with one random, mysterious scene after another. Jack being watched as if he were an animal in a zoo. The ENTIRE flashback sequence which left me scratching my head in total condusion - who was Bai Ling? Is she the smoke monster? Why did the islanders beat up Jack? Whaaaaaaat the hell was going on there? Meanwhile, Kate and Sawyer are traveling with an Other, and yet ask him NOTHING about his people save for where they live? Wow, who cares if they have backyards? That's what was so frustrating about this ep - it placed Jack, Kate, and Sawyer in PERFECT position to find out more about their situations on the island, as well as who The Others are and what they're doing on the island ... but the writers took cheap shortcuts, manipulating the dialogue so that everyone talked in riddles. This whole ep just felt like meaningless filler. Jack's flashback was apparently pointless except maybe to set up some dangling plot thread that will be returned to in like four years. Juliette's apparent loyalties have switched back and forth about 5,000 times now - I get they're trying to make her an enigma but the whole thing is just getting annoying. And damn, I hate when the show ignores ALL the urgency of the immediate plot to focus on relationships. I mean, Jack is on a mysterious island, caged, imprisoned, alone -- who cares if he has a crush on Julliette? That is fine as a subplot to be weaved organically into the A plot, but how can the writers put their characters in these crazy, mysterious, mind-bending circumstances then expect us to forget about all that, and just concentrate on the sexual tension between Jack and Juliette? It's kind of absurd. They have Jack bring up the fact that The Others have kidnapped children, taken prisoners, murdered people, etc - and then never follow up on that? How is he not demanding an explanation? This was, basically, a pretty weak, very frustrating episode that was totally emblematic of recent viewer complaints. Up until now, I thought this season had done a good job of tightening the focus of the plot and therefore justifying the emphasis on characters over mystery-solving. But this ep simultaneously tried to pull back the curtain on the plot and yet keep all of the cards hidden.
My Grade: C+
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Now, I would like to take a minute to bid farewell to THE OC.
The OC, when it launched, was such a show that embraced my generation's post-ironic sense of humor, mixing classic teen drama with a smart sense of self-awareness that made it an instant hit and then a bonafide pop phenomena. What did I love about The OC? For me, as I suspect for many, the whole appeal of the show as really in the Seth Cohen - Ryan Atwood relationship. The two had an offbeat friendship that really rang true. Seth Cohen was unlike any TV character I had seen -- a videogame playing, comic book reading nice Jewish boy nerd who was somehow cool enough that girls liked him and guys wanted to be like him (aka - kinda like me!). But seriously, this show always managed to walk the fine line between being over the top, being self-aware of said over-the-topness, and yet still ringing very true. In its best moments, the Cohen family captured a certain zeitgeist of the 00's - a potent mixture of emo and rock n' roll - embodied by Death Cab-lovin' Seth and Journey-listenin' Ryan. It was the classic kid from the wrong side of the tracks meets the new-school post-Columbine, post-9/11, post Kevin Smith and Adult Swim troubled teen. Earstwhile dad Sandy Cohen was the classic Nice Jewish crusading liberal dad, and furrowed mom Kirsten was 40-is-the-new-30 shiksa-appeal mom. From The OC we learned of Chrismakkah - a concept I never liked but whose relevance I couldn't deny. "Welcome to the OC, bitch!" became a catchphrase for the ages. And yet, how appropriate that THE pop-cultural phenomenon of the 00's faded faster than the latest bit of YouTube ephemeria. By Season 3, the show's trademark zip had fizzled. It's breakneck pacing had exhausted every conceivable hookup, betrayal, breakup, and plot twist after only a few dozen episodes. By 2007, Seth Cohen had already become SOOOO 2004. A commentary on our times? Perhaps. And let's face it, this show has been a shadow of its Season 1 self for a while now. But for a brief, magical moment, this show was IT. Emo music, self-mocking humor, rapid-fire pacing, references to everything from Brian Michael Bendis to 80's retro to Shaun of the Dead, to schmearing bagels to Chrismukkah, "Ew," and that so-annoying-it's-awesome themesong. California, there I went. So long OC - you survived Oliver, Johnny, Gordon Bullit - incest, infidelity, and alcholholism - more Seth-Summer, Ryan-Marissa will they won't they moments than I can count - Marissa-goes-Lesbian, Marissa-goes druggie, and Marissa-goes-roadkill. May you go out with a brawl, a backstabbing, a cheesy montage, and a self-referential zinger or two.
Alright - I'll be back tommorow with OSCAR PREDICTIONS.
CALIFORNIA HERE I COME, BITCH!
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