Wow. I’m seriously bummed about that. He’s been voted The Most Trusted Name in News (an honorific held by the great Walter Cronkite). Now what are we gonna do?
Topping it off, his friend Brian Williams turns out to have feet (or at least a few toes) of clay. Kind of ironic considering the TV commercials NBC was recently pushing about how trusted he is.
Just how many Signs of the Apocalypse does that make?
It’s been over two years since I wrote the Worst NCIS Ever! rant post, and I still think that was weak plotting. That episode was the premiere of the 10th season, but clinkers like that one episode seem incredibly rare. They’re turning out powerful, engaging stories even after 12 years. Still my favorite show currently airing.
So why is that the spin-off show, NCIS: Los Angeles, is such an ugly sibling to me? It seems so different that it’s as if it’s not part of the franchise, but some other — far less worthy — show. The new spin-off, NCIS: New Orleans, is so far proving to be as attractive as the first sibling, which puts the ugly one in even greater contrast.
Last week’s episode was so bad I just have to rant about it.
You, dear reader, might wonder about the #2 in today’s title. Obviously, it signifies a second, so you may wonder wither the first. That one wasn’t in the normal catalog, but in Brain Bubbles, and it is, in fact, misfiled due to my own historical lack of precision about what belongs in that catalog. Full-length articles about movies do not.
So today’s post, another meander through three (recommended) movies, two TV shows (one recommended, one not), and a commemoration of the end of a great (cable) TV show, goes in the main catalog where it belongs.
Truth be told, I just couldn’t come up with a better title.
Walken as Hook? That sounded wrong to me the moment I heard about it. I’ve loved him in everything I’ve seen him in, but I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around him as Captain Hook in a lighthearted musical comedy. The bits I hear and see in the commercials don’t do anything to help matters. His reading of the lines sounds wrong to me! The pacing and energy level don’t play well for me at all.
The question is: casting brilliance or casting mistake?
Sometimes you encounter someone who seems to really hit the nail on the head in terms of how they see the world. The brilliance of these moments is that — especially if you tend to be a social outlier — you’re given the gift of knowing you’re not alone. There are people who not only see the world as you do but see it even more clearly and intelligently than you ever could.
Leon Wieseltier appeared on The Colbert Report last Tuesday (Oct 7), and I was so blown away by his words that I kept rewinding and rewinding so I could write it all down and record here what he said.
I was especially impressed by his ten-word critique of modern society!
Yesterday featured, not one, not two, not three, but four MLB baseball games to watch. Normally there is nothing unusual about four baseball games in a day. During the regular season, when all 30 MLB teams play (which happens most days), there are 15 games on the day. The big difference yesterday was that these were post-season playoff games, and all four were televised in national markets at times that almost didn’t overlap.
And how about them Royals?! First they give the Tigers fits during the season after fighting their way above the pack — even taking first place in the Division for 30 days late in the season. Then they make it to the playoffs as a wildcard and have played amazing baseball in the three games so far. Quite a story; I hope they go all the way!
Plus, I’ve realized what really annoys me about NCIS: Los Angeles.
The other evening I had the very weird experience of watching a very good, smart TV show followed immediately by watching a very bad, stupid TV show. And, admittedly, it may have been a study of contrasts; the latter may have suffered in comparison to the former and come off worse than it is. On the other hand, at that point in the evening, I had several (okay, four) beers in me, so I should have been predisposed to enjoy the show.
But instead of hootin’ and hollerin’ with delight (as I’d done for the first show), I was hootin’ and hollerin’ with derision about how mindlessly, utterly stupid the second show was. As it turns out, critics seem to agree. On Metacritic, the first one has 21 positive critic reviews, nine mixed and only one negative. The second show? Only four positive, 15 mixed and five negative reviews.
If “we are what we eat,” then what about what we consume with our minds? If the food we eat becomes the substance of our muscles and bones, doesn’t the information we absorb become the substance of our thoughts and emotions? We understand that it’s not healthy to live on junk food alone; do we have a similar sense regarding our mental health?
I think a lot about the media content we absorb so casually day in and day out. In the last three or four decades, we seem to have come to an ugly, unfortunate place for entertainment dining. Our diet now is rich in violence and sexuality, and it’s served in a visceral emotional stew of force and conflict.
I think it’s disturbing, especially considering how few seem disturbed by it!
“These are the voyages of the…” Wait! Wrong great SF TV show!!
Do you know about the impossible girl? How about the girl who waited (for 12 years and then again for 36), or her other half, the boy who waited (for 2000)? There are others: the woman who forgot the greatest adventure ever; the woman who became a doctor and a warrior; the woman who was forever lost to another dimension. And there is the stolen daughter raised as would-be assassin, but who instead became a wife traveling backwards in time.
Do you know about deadly monsters encased in metal armor? How about fearsome monsters that are as stone statues when you look at them, but who remove you from time when you don’t?
Most of all, do you know about the madman with a box?
You’ve probably heard the news by now. First Stephen Colbert leaves his show, and now Jon Stewart is leaving The Daily Show.
It’s been over two years since I wrote the 
You, dear reader, might wonder about the #2 in today’s title. Obviously, it signifies a second, so you may wonder wither the first. 
I’ve been watching the commercials for the 
Sometimes you encounter someone who seems to really hit the nail on the head in terms of how they see the world. The brilliance of these moments is that — especially if you tend to be a social outlier — you’re given the gift of knowing you’re not alone. There are people who not only see the world as you do but see it even more clearly and intelligently than you ever could.
The other evening I had the very weird experience of watching a very good, smart TV show followed immediately by watching a very bad, stupid TV show. And, admittedly, it may have been a study of contrasts; the latter may have suffered in comparison to the former and come off worse than it is. On the other hand, at that point in the evening, I had several (okay, four) beers in me, so I should have been predisposed to enjoy the show.
Logos con carne 