I foresee the toughest thing for people to accept about this show is its apparent lack of plot. “Treme” is not like “CSI” or any of the other acronym shows. It doesn’t start with a murder that’s summed up nicely by the end of the hour. Shows like “Treme” follow characters not plots.
I recently had a discussion with Black Beard and friends about TV shows and their lack of focus. My friends tore down “Mad Men” as slow moving and boring because of its lack of focus. The discussion ended poorly. No one was stabbed but there was a threat of violence.
This is just my taste but a show like “Treme” is far superior to a “CSI” for the simple reason that I can tell you where the plot is going to go but I can’t always predict where characters are going to go. I love movies, TV shows, plays and books all for the same reason: I love characters. Plot driven stories are good fun but they don’t make great movies or TV shows.
Last night was episode 2 of “Treme”. The show opens with Coco Robicheaux and a little voodoo, which is something very dear to my heart having lived two years in Benin, the voodoo capital of the world. Someone even threw out the word “gris-gris” which got me a little excited. I haven’t heard that term since I left Africa nearly two years. More importantly who is Coco Robicheaux? I had no idea who he was until last night but he’s a New Orleans musician.
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I recently had a mild debate about the rapidity of DVD series consumption. The debate happened to come amidst my viewing of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. The discussion focused on how can people today can watch an entire season of a TV show in one sitting? The simple answer is because it’s fun.
Anyway, I have been watching the first season of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency for the last couple of days. The show is based on the series of novels of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith. The books and the series follow Mma Precious Ramotswe as the first female private detective in Botswana. It’s a story of female empowerment on a continent that has historically held women back.
I have never read the books, surprise, surprise, and hadn’t heard of the series, which premiered in 2008, because I was actually in Africa when it aired, until just a month ago when it was suggested to me by a friend because of my addiction to all things Africa.
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I was a latecomer to the Tron world. I may have watched the original as a child but I don’t remember. A few years ago when I lived in Africa I would happen upon DVD collections from China. They had mostly bootlegged copies of new films. (Don’t judge, I needed my movie fix and there weren’t any multiplexes in my part of Africa.)
Randomly on one of the discs was the original Tron. I avoided it for awhile. The movie is emblazoned with DISNEY. So I always had this impression of Tron as a silly kids movie. Well, after a week I had watched everything else. So I popped in Tron and I was blown away. The story at times was a little silly, but visually I’ve never seen anything more impressive. The balls it had to take to make that movie. I can’t imagine trying to sell a studio on it. Tron by far is more visually impressive than any of the original Star Wars films.
Tron came out in ’82 and the Episode IV and V had already been released. George Lucas is always getting praised for the creation of the Star Wars universe but Tron is beyond anything in those films. I know several people will disagree but I’m going to stick by it. Tron was really the birth of CG. James Cameron should thank Steven Lisberger as he counts his billions.
Well, 28 years later Disney has finally got around to making a sequel, Tron Legacy. Jeff Bridges is on board and based on the preview Bruce Boxleitner also has returned.
Watch the preview below and tell me you don’t want to see this. Well, minus the silly son idea. I had hoped for something more original. (Since it worked so well with the last Indiana Jones film. That’s sarcasm by the way. It did not work well. That movie sucked.)
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I’m afraid of YouTube. I never venture too far within its confines. The reason is inevitably I come upon something truly discomforting. Things that normal people living in a normal society would try to keep hidden. Like why does every obese person in the world think dancing on YouTube is a great idea? I shower in the dark because I don’t like to see my fat ass jiggle. So why would anyone want to put that online? Please someone help me with that one.
YouTube has created this environment where anyone can have their 15 minutes of fame. (Although I believe if Andy Warhol were alive he would update the time limit to five minutes or perhaps five seconds considering 20 hours of video is uploaded every minute.)
Now I’ve seen scary movies and read dark stories. I also lived in West Africa for two years and saw some terrible things. So I’m not a vagina but things on YouTube weird me out. The only explanation I have been able to come to is that YouTube is a sign of the apocalypse. Only the end of days would bring such imagery to our homes. Obviously YouTube is tame in comparison to videos on other sites but YouTube is the most popular. So it is the chosen target for today.
I know I have done a disservice to some YouTube freaks by only choosing five. I am also sure that I haven’t even scratched the surface of the debauchery that exists on YouTube, because I just can’t bring myself to watch some things. Below are the things that I’ve found recently that have disturbed me.
1. Chubby Cuppy Cake Boy
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Again I’m a little behind on my YouTube videos. Many of you have seen chubby kid before but this is my first time. By the way, the term chubby is being very kind to this kid.
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