July 19, 2013 tGIF: Follow Your Dreams Edition
Some days you want to write articles about giant mechs and some days you just want to post some GIFs.
How do you even train a dog to do this?
This is more of a Monday GIF, really.
Well, you can swing it you can groove it
You can really start to move it at the hop
Where the jockey is the smoothest
And the music is the coolest at the hop
All the cats and chicks can get their kicks at the hop
Cat: “Blarg! You will die! I am your end!!”
Dog: “Whatevs.”
I AM ERROR
Street Fighter As She Is Played
Oh, boring, the raccoon is going to st— LOOK AT HOW HE RUNS OFF!
From all of us at zwolanerd: our encouragement to you, in sloth form
Tags: tGIF
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July 18, 2013 Whose Line Recaps 1 & 2
If you missed the return of Whose Line Is It Anyway? you can watch the first two episodes right here (unless you don’t live in the US, at which point you’re out of luck (or maybe not?)).
My overall impression: pretty, pretty good. It’s weird that Drew isn’t there, but I think Aisha will grow into it. Ryan, Colin, and Wayne are still fantastic, and the changing fourth person still has to feel a little left out, especially since they now have guest stars to contend with. Really, if you’re going to have guest stars, maybe don’t have a fourth improv person? Seems like too much going on. I don’t mind the guest stars, except that it means even less interaction with the audience, and I think improv suffers when that happens. But if having guest stars makes the show more marketable and gets me more episodes of Whose Line, then I am completely signed on for having guest stars.
Let’s break down the two episodes that aired this week:
Episode 1
4th cast Member: Gary Anthony Williams
Guest star: Lauren Cohan (from The Walking Dead)Games:
- Let’s Make a Date – always a good opener, with some great opportunities for the individual actors to do some great characters. Plus, not even four minutes into the show, Colin kisses Wayne full on the mouth.
- Dubbing (w/ Lauren Cohan) – I was impressed with Lauren’s commitment to the scene. Nice work!
- What’s in the Bag? – A new game using the contents of audience purses> I really, really liked this idea and it worked very well. Brave audience members, though.
- Scenes from a Hat – My all-time favorite WLIIA game, hands down. They could make a DVD that just had all of the Scenes from a Hat games one after another and I would buy it and watch it once a week.
- Living Scenery (w/ Lauren Cohan) – I have no idea how Lauren didn’t punch Colin after this. She’s a trooper.
- Credits: Pointing out who has turned into zombies – The “read the credits as _________” gag isn’t my favorite thing.
Episode 2
4th Person: Heather Anne Campbell
Guest star: Kevin McHale (from Glee)Games:
- Scenes from a Hat – They could do this every week and I’d be all right with it, I’m telling you. They could do the whole show as this and I’d be fine with it.
- Song Style (w/ Kevin McHale) – Wayne improvising songs is one of the best things ever, and I was impressed by Kevin’s joining in (though I was not impressed with his hair – is that what the kids are doing these days?)
- Dubbing (w/ Kevin McHale) – It’s weird to me that the second show of the season repeated two games from the first show, but I know one reason why they chose this one: having an audience member act out what an improv person is saying is an easy way to have an audience member onstage without requiring too much from them. As long as the audience member fully commits to acting out what’s being said, you’re basically assured to get laughs. This game and “using the audience member as a prop” or “having the audience member move the actors” are basically the Konami Codes of improv.
- Sideways Scene – For me a little of this goes a long way. I’d seen it already in Colin and Brad’s show and on Trust Us with Your Life (every. single. episode.) so I’m a little burnt out on it. Most people seem to really like this, though. I fear this will show up way too often on this new season.
- Helping Hands (w/ Kevin McHale) – On the old show, this was one of a couple that Drew would join in on, doing his best to get Ryan as messed up as possible or eating the worst possible things. Props to Kevin for not only catching some Ryan-spewed popcorn, but also eating it. I mean, that’s super-gross, but props anyway.
- Credits: Glee club preparing for a show, because of course
A good start, though there seemed to be waaaaaaaaaaaay too many commercials. I feel like the old shows had more than five games per episode, but I’ll need to go back and watch some to see if maybe it’s just my memory that’s going.
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July 17, 2013 I Am Okay With Giant Mechs
Why would anybody in the future watch any sport other than giant robots vs. monsters?
I saw Pacific Rim last night with two friends. Two of us liked it a lot and the third guy doesn’t go to many movies. While I had some minor issues with little pieces here and there, I don’t understand how you wouldn’t enjoy a movie described thusly on IMDb:
As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete special weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse.
The only reason I can see is because when you were a kid you made this exact movie in your head while playing with your toys, only the giant robot was Optimus Prime and the monster was your dog or a stuffed rabbit.
Literally two minutes into the movie, I’m struck with how signed on I am to this concept. Like, if a giant mech had showed up in The Dark Knight Rises, I would have grimaced and shook my head and been all “Ugh, what in the world.” I mean, don’t get me wrong, if that mech had a Bat-logo on it and some backstory about how Bruce Wayne made it for something-or-other, I would have eventually been able to come around on the concept, I’m sure. But initially? Too much cognitive dissonance.
Here, though, I am all about the giant mechs because that’s the world laid out for me. It’s not about if a concept is crazy in the world I inhabit, it’s if the concept is crazy for the world the movie takes place in. In this particular movie giant mechs make sense, because when giant monsters start showing up what else are you gonna do?
And, really, this is the same leap pretty much any movie makes, right? If we don’t accept the premise we won’t accept the story. Scoffing “It’s not realistic” is the most ridiculous criticism of a movie ever, in my opinion. “There are no lightsabers, that would never work” is a useless phrase, because in the universe of Star Wars, lightsabers do exist and do work. It’s when the movie disagrees with its own created world that I really start to have problems.
Consider Superman. He’s invulnerable, super fast, yada yada yada. We know what Superman is because he’s got years of backstory and is part of the culture. So most of us can accept that a bullet to his eye isn’t going to do anything. But in Superman II where he pulls his insignia off his chest and it envelops a bad guy and he erases Lois Lane’s memory by kissing her [spoiler alert, I guess, for a 33-year-old movie], we shake out heads and scoff because it doesn’t fit with the created world. This is why fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are so nervous about what Michael Bay is going to do in the movie he’s working on. If they carry guns or have laser eyes or are aliens, we’re going to have some problems with that. If you can do whatever you want with a particular universe, why have different universes at all?
This buy-in to a premise is what can make crossovers work so well. Please note my use of can, since they don’t necessarily. Inserting zombies into Jane Austen novels can work with the right setup. So can Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires. How different is that from accepting a guy who can kill people in their dreams? Or a mob boss using hundreds of snakes to assassinate a guy on a plane? Or even a girl falling in love with a guy she met when in some cuh-razy way? It’s all giant mechs fighting monsters.
I’ve long said that if I have any super power at all, it’s an over-developed ability to suspend my disbelief.
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July 16, 2013 Tuesday 10: Rene Russo Movies
I have no idea how to caption this.
Until I looked up her bio on IMDb, I had no idea Rene Russo was 18 years older than me. There’s your fun fact for the day!
This list was inspired by a recent rewatch of Get Shorty, but once I got into it, I was surprised that I’d seen so few of her movies. I was once again struck with the difference between “an [ACTOR] movie” and “a movie that has [ACTOR] in it.” We’ll get to that more on a couple of these.
10. Outbreak (1995) – I’m well aware that this movie is better than a #10 spot, but any time you’re talking germs and how easy it is to spread them, I’m knocking you down a bunch. I am already aware of how fragile my not-being-sick state is, thank you very much.
9. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) – Rene has been in movies with a lot of “major leading men,” and she has always held her own/exceeded them, in my opinion. There’s a confidence to her, a look that lets you know she’s in on it, she knows what’s going on, and she’s not in any way intimidated. That’s mostly what I remember from about this movie, which I haven’t seen in a long time.
8. Tin Cup (1996) – Several of these movies on the list are ones I have a mental rating for but don’t remember much about. This is the “Kevin Costner and golf” entry on the list.
7. Major League (1989) – Many people I know absolutely love this movie, and I barely remember it.
6. The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) – I liked this movie way more than it deserved to be liked, and it’s mostly because I love the original cartoons. I ain’t ashamed!
5. Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)/Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) – The Lethal Weapon series averages out to be pretty good, but nobody remembers 3 and 4 much. Rene was a good addition, but the overall movies weren’t as good as the first two.
4. Get Shorty (1995) – One of Travolta’s best, which is a weird thing to say on a Rene Russo list, I know, but it really is.
3. In the Line of Fire (1993) – The flirting between Clint Eastwood and Rene always seemed a little weird to me.
2. Thor (2011) – This is in no way a “Rene Russo movie,” but I really really like it and she’s in it and what are you going to do about it anyway? She plays Thor’s mom, and it took me a little while to figure that out the first time I saw it.
1. Big Trouble (2002) – This little-seen movie is not only my favorite Rene Russo movie, it might be in my top 20 of all time. Top 50 for sure. It’s based on a Dave Barry book that I absolutely loved (I literally could not go two pages without laughing out loud), and it’s got a great cast. Do yourself a favor and watch it.
To answer your question, yes, I do think it’s weird I’ve never seen Ransom.
Tags: Tuesday10
July 15, 2013 Better Off Ted S02E05: The Great Repression
Netflix’s episode description for this week is “Oddball Sheila falsely accuses Ted and Linda of sexual harassment. Veronica convinces Veridian to classify sexual harassment as a disease.” I don’t know if I would have ever come up with that descriptor for Sheila myself, but it fits perfectly. I personally think she wasn’t as odd in this episode as she was back in Get Happy, but taken as a whole picture, Sheila seems pretty oddball. Nice to know she has stuck with the cat thing, though. Nice work, writers!
Ted starts off the episode talking about how it’s natural for relationships to form at the office (as if the whole Ted and Linda thing wasn’t telling us that already for a season and a half!), but it’s important to keep things professional. I feel like this is a topic we’ve hit before, but they go a different route with it this time around: the sexual harassment route. And, like many things on this show, it’s all because of Linda.
Now, granted, I’m not entirely sure it was all Linda’s fault. I mean, we do see from Sheila’s point of view how what Linda does could be threatening, but Linda certainly didn’t mean for it to be. Let this be a lesson to us all, kids: we don’t see all sides of the story, so maybe it’s best to not jump to conclusions! …but maybe I’m reading more into this than I should be. regardless, Sheila feels threatened, and we get a discussion on the phrase “don’t fight it,” which I’d never given much thought to before, so maybe this episode does work as a public service announcement. Layers, people! This sitcom is full of them!
It’s always a little strange when a sitcom addresses Big Ticket Items like sexual harassment and racism. For the most part, Better Off Ted does a good job of getting right up to the lines of propriety, but I’ll never be completely comfortable with jokes about race and harassment. I get that comedy is a big tent and I understand there are a lot of folks out there who feel like nothing should be off limits, but that’s not ever going to change how I feel about and react to certain topics. Regardless, I still enjoy these episodes, I just wanted to mention that undercurrent.
That said, Linda’s turn from “I’m innocent!” to “yikes, there are some sickos” to “Harassment Vigilante” is a pretty good sequence, and her “Oh, yeah. Mama’s gonna have fun with this” line is an insight into her character. It’s an outgrowth of what she’s been all along, the heart and soul of the company, the conscience. It’s just showing up in a more… aggressive manner here.
Meanwhile, Phil and Lem are sad to see their robot buddy leaving. I love that Phil and Lem’s long “friendship” with a cleaning robot sits in stark contrast to everybody in the cubicle levels getting all “free love.” I also love that these geniuses are so naive as to still believe in things like “robot farms.” Bless their hearts.
I’m guessing Veridian could find a grillion uses for a Dalek
The biggest thing about this episode, though, is an easily missed cameo when Phil and Lem visit the subbasement. To the immediate left (ours, not theirs) when they walk in there’s a Dalek! Now, I say “biggest thing” but that really depends on your perspective. Sure, it’s just a little in-joke about a tyrannical power-seeking species from Doctor Who, but consider what we already know about Veridian Dynamics: they are a tyrannical power-seeking company. Did they create the proto-Dalek which went on to hassle The Doctor incessantly? Or did they stumble upon one and seek to reverse engineer the technology? Either way, this match has much potential for disaster. But consider further: the Dalek has been relegated to the subbasement, where old robots are stripped for parts. And it looks pretty dusty and unused. Does this mean Veridian couldn’t figure out the Dalek technology? Or did they deem it too pedestrian? If it’s the latter, Linda’s correct to be afraid of the company. No matter how the Dalek got there, it makes me want an episode of Doctor Who where The Doctor runs into Phil and Lem.
Bits and pieces:
- “Thank you, Erica. I value and respect you as a gender neutral colleague.” – Ted
- “I’m taking you down, old man.” – Rose
- “Muss up his hair. It’s the source of all his power.” – Veronica, confusing Ted with Samson
- “Why will nobody in this building ever smash anyone with a phone?” – Veronica has a way with kids, doesn’t she?
- Rose is 8 years old. Did we know this already?
- “Get them to stop coming on to each other. It might be as simple as improving the lighting out there.” – Veronica, who apparently thinks all the cubicle dwellers are ugly
- “What kind of sick world are we living in where machines can be so easily cast aside for people?” – Phil
- “Don’t fight it.” – Linda, choosing her words poorly
- “Come on, Sheila, don’t fight it! …oh, wait.” – Ted
- Veronica basically calls Ted Batman.
- “I feel like my heart has been kicked in the testicles.” – Phil, who has probably just ruined this whole site, search-wise
- “I have a daughter. I speak evasive mumble.” – Ted
- I grew up in Wisconsin and never once saw a cheese mines. This is a delightful bit of absurdity.
- I’m pretty sure the lighting in the office is different once Veronica has gotten sexual harassment categorized as a disease. It’s all softer and more romantic (or sleazy, depending on your point of view)
- “Cubicle Smurfs” – Veronica
- The slurping noises Chumley makes are pretty adorable
- Phil and Lem thought Ted was friends with Ryan Seacrest
- It’s weird when Ted and Veronica kiss and I don’t like it
- “Don’t ask me to choose between the two of you!” – Lem
- “Boy, bringing things back from the dead never goes smoothly.” – Phil
- “Children… are like adorable Swiss army knives.” – Veronica
- Rose ends the episode by smashing a phone on Ted, and here’s another lesson for us all: kids are sponges. You suggest hitting someone with a phone enough times to them and they’re likely to do it. Be warned!
Commercial:
No commercial again this week. There has only been one Veridian commercial so far this season.
Ideas/Inventions mentioned in this episode:
- Beaker of bald eagle stem cells
Coworkers named/seen:
- Erica, who keeps failing at flirting with Ted
- Chumley, the robot spill technician, who might be better mentioned under “Inventions,” but Phil and Lem are really attached to the little guy
- Carlos, the new spill technian
- Keith, who is “kinda creepy”
- Sheila
- Debby [mentioned, not seen], whose cat might be the idiot, but might be the idiot herself, Sheila’s wording isn’t clear
- Mr. Thomas [unseen], the alcoholic lawyer in charge of sexual harrassment
- Gail [not named in the show but IMDb names her], Mr. Thomas’s secretary
- Denise, the sexual harassment manager
- Cindy, Veronica’s secretary?
- Alvin, another creepy dude
Next week: S02E06 – Beating a Dead Workforce
Tags: Better Off Ted, LWST
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