3 posts tagged “entertainment”
What work of art (film, book, record, whatever) changed your life?
Submitted by bodhibound.
This is an interesting question...it makes me a little sad that I don't have a better answer. Still, I can't pinpoint any piece of art that "changed my life." However, I can at least isolate a few things that helped solidify the direction of my life, in some ways (in no particular order).
I would have to say that one of the first movies that actively influenced me and made me think about the world of filmmaking was the 1989 version of Batman. In re-watching it now, I absolutely see that the story is somewhat nonexistent, that Batman is sidelined as a character, that style overwhelmed substance. And indeed, if I had been 25 in 1989 and saw Batman in theaters, I don't know if I would have liked it or not. But as an 8 or 9 year old (I didn't see it until it was on video...I was too scared to see it in theaters...I heard a guy melted in it), it overwhelmed me. Up until that point, my cinematic diet had consisted of various animated Disney movies, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Garbage Pail Kid Movie, the Rainbow Brite movie, Mary Poppins, Pete's Dragon, Annie...a steady intake of decent-to-awful movies intended for those of a PG-age.
I remember my first glimpse of it was in 1990, when it came out on video. My dad had rented it, though I was still too scared to see it. We were getting ready for dinner and he turned on the last five minutes or so of it, saying that he hadn't finished watching it. It basically started at the scene where the camera circles around the Joker's corpse as Commissioner Gordon pulls the laughing bag from his jacket. And I watched, intrigued by what I saw. When the movie ended a few minutes later, I asked my dad if I could watch the whole thing. He said no, I wouldn't like it.
Months later, I was at my mom's house for the summer and watching HBO on a lazy Sunday afternoon, when there was Batman...and I watched it, almost in its entirety (I hadn't planned on watching it, so I probably came into it about twenty or thirty minutes in). When it was done, I was amazed. I ran to my mom and started telling her all about it (ah, parents...so patient). I remember that I thought this was a revolutionary movie because they used the actors' real names in the movie (that is, I was confused because in the movie, Jack Nicholson's character name is Jack Napier...so when they called him Jack, I thought his character name was Jack Nicholson). But really, it was the overall movie that got to me...I hadn't seen Blade Runner or Brazil or any other oppressive cinematic world...it blew my mind.
That movie basically introduced me to Tim Burton as a director, which led me to seek out Beetlejuice and Pee Wee's Big Adventure (though I had seen that before), and when Edward Scissorhands came out, I had my dad take me to see it as soon as we could (leading to a vaguely amusing story when the film broke halfway through the movie...my dad chuckled that Edward Scissorhands had cut the film...it may not have been the best joke ever, but it sure did make for a good memory). That movie also affected me, as it was more emotional than Batman (and had, you know, character development).
Also around this time, I was discovering the Back to the Future trilogy, via a VHS tape of the first film that my parents had lying around. I became obsessed with those films, too, and was thrilled when I learned that the director of those, Robert Zemeckis, had also directed a movie I had enjoyed separately: Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I remember in December of 1989, when Back to the Future Part II was in theaters, I was desperate to see it...and my step-father at the time (my mom's loser second husband...not my dad and not Dale) made the wrong move of joking that "we can see it next year." True, he said this on something like December 28th and he meant that we'd see it the next week, but I was so not amused...asshole.
So with those movies forming the foundation of my interest in film, I went into the summer of 1992 looking forward to one movie above all others: Batman Returns. I remember that I saw an ad on the back of a comic book in about March or April of '92 that consisted of the "Big Bat Snow" image...and I about pooped my pants with excitement. At that time, I felt that I literally--literally!--could not wait until June to see that movie. I hung that cover up on my wall and counted down the moments until I could go see it...but really, that was probably my first "defining" theatrical experience, where my mom took a day off of work to take me to see the movie at the first show on the day it opened at the Carousel Mall in Syracuse, not so much a piece of art that changed my life.
Those are some movies that greatly influenced me when I was younger...again, I can't say that they "changed my life," but they probably came the closest to doing so. I guess I feel sort of bad that I can't list any painting or book that changed my life, but that would presume that movies are a lesser art form...which is an opinion with which I do not agree. And indeed, there have been plenty of movies since that have helped to shape my current tastes...they're not necessarily my favorite movies now, but they had a great impact on me at the time (Jurassic Park and Terminator 2 being two of the big ones in that category)...but those were really the first.
Which TV show never "jumped the shark"?
Submitted by healthypanda.
Yesterday was a busy day (and I got to go home really early...which totally didn't have anything to do with me skipping a blog post...not at all...). But I never promised to post every day, so I don't feel that bad...except for that neurotic part of me that can't help but wince at the fact that I let yesterday slip by. Of course, I'll also be on vacation next week, so I'll just have to get over it one way or another (unless I use my sister's new pink laptop to write stuff...but then she might be able to follow the link and read my blog, which is simply unacceptable).
Anyway, while I hate the phrase "jumped the shark," I will say that it is a rare show that stays on its tracks at all throughout its entire run (Urkel-Bot, I'm staring at you...). And indeed, it's even rarer to find a show that maintains a high level of quality throughout its entire run (as opposed to shows that have a good season, followed by a terrible season, followed by a mediocre season that just looks good in comparison to the prior wretched season). But here are some select shows that seem to have walked that fine line between keeping it fresh and not becoming a pale imitation of its once glorious self (in no particular order):
Arrested Development: I was astounded that this show actually maintained the stellar level of quality that it did throughout its too-brief three-season run. Given the fact that there was usually at least one not-enough-breath-to-sustain-the-belly-laugh joke in each episode, I was continually impressed they kept hitting and raising the bar of quality. While some people still cry into their pillows and cut themselves because this show was canceled, I'm just grateful that it never had a chance to crash and burn...something tells me that if Arrested Development went south, it would have actually been painful to watch....
Cheers: Sure, it didn't reinvent the sitcom or break new narrative ground, but Cheers was a damn solid show that was consistently funny over the course of 11 seasons. Plus, it gets extra points by surviving (and thriving from) a major cast change with the departure of Diane and the arrival of Rebecca. In a way, this show earns even more praise from the fact that it even spawned a superior spin-off in the form of Frasier (a testament to the quality of the original character)...and while Frasier almost made this list on its own (another 11 seasons of high-class comedy), it wouldn't have existed without Cheers (and Daphne got awfully shrill by the end of Frasier's run).
South Park: I was going to include this on a list of shows that probably never jumped the shark, but for one reason or another, I didn't want to include it in the main list...but you know what? It's a pretty great show. I'm not sure if I can count shows that are still airing, but after 11 seasons, it doesn't look like it's going to change too much. Some episodes are kind of awful, but not shark-jumpingly so, and they usually have something that redeems them (or is just so bizarre that one has to laugh...oh, Crab People, I love you, even if no one else does [except maybe Mark]).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A controversial choice (for nerds). With a show as well-loved and hotly debated as Buffy, particularly by such a specific group of internet-dwelling uber-fans, there are many different moments during the series that caused the outcry of shark-jumping: "The move to UPN!" "Buffy doing Spike!" "The seventh season being boring!" "That time Buffy killed that vampire!" Etc. But having purchased the Complete Series set a year or two ago and having watched all the episodes back to back (after having seen them the first time through their individual season box sets), I have to say that, in my opinion, the series never jumped the shark. It could be frustrating, baffling, uncomfortable, even unpleasant, but I don't think that any TV show (or any movie, for that matter) needs to be perfect to be great. And while I do agree that the behind-the-scenes difficulties that bled through to the show were unfortunate, all in all, the entire series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a marvelous piece of entertainment, with emotional lows and highs rather than "good episodes" and "bad episodes."
Futurama: I guess it remains to be seen how the direct-to-video "movies" fare, but in terms of the series itself, Futurama often surpassed its fellow creation The Simpsons in terms of humor and pathos (NOTE: when I say that Futurama surpassed The Simpsons, I mean that season 2 episodes of Futurama surpassed season 11 episodes of The Simpsons...give me "A Flight to Remember" over "Bart to the Future" any day...The Simpsons itself, unfortunately, can never be on this list, as it has sucked for the last nine or ten years). Funny from beginning to end and left me wanting more.
Scrubs: This one is tricky, as it's still airing (well, dependent on the Writer's Strike and all...), and indeed, Scrubs has had plenty of episodes that have at least climbed up on the shark and demonstrated what it would be like if it did finally jump it. However, even the worst episode of Scrubs is funnier and more entertaining than 90% of what's on TV right now. Unless they decide to rape and murder a major character and spend the rest of the series showing each of the remaining characters taking a 22-minute piss on the slowly-decaying corpse, I believe this show will gain access to television Valhalla. Plus, it's one of the rare shows that I can literally watch over and over again and still laugh and want more; it's televised heroin.
The Office (BBC and NBC versions): It's pretty much accepted as fact that the BBC version of The Office is brilliant (and with only 10 episodes and an hour-long conclusion episode, there was little time for them to even consider jumping the shark). Of course, what's becoming more and more apparent is that the NBC version of The Office is pretty fucking awesome. Sure, it's had some bumps in its road (PLEASE never do hour-long episodes again...or at least only do one per season), but it's the rare show right now that causes Arrested Development-style heaving laughter coupled with actual character development (Scrubs comes in second place in this respect).
Those are some of my choices. One other show that I would probably put up there would be The Wonder Years, but given that I haven't even seen the show for about a decade, it's difficult to remember whether or not it ever took an extreme wrong turn here or there...but I don't think it did. Also, The Adventures of Pete and Pete: a little too lightweight to elevate to such critical heights, but I have a big soft spot for it. Oh, and The Critic: so good, but it didn't really have enough time to jump any sharks.
All right, I could go on all day like this (Strangers With Candy is pretty excellent...but I almost hate the Cults two-parter and, honestly, after six to eight episodes, it gets repetitive...also, divorced from all the hype and bizarre trends [what was so great about her hairstyle?], Friends was a good, comfortable show...except that damn Joey/Rachel storyline and the knowledge that they were all making $1 million per episode kind of deflated a little bit of the fun...). But for now, that's my long answer to a short question.
Where is the farthest you have ever been away from home? Did you get homesick?
Submitted by Melissa.
Side-stepping the issue of "where is home, really?" (this actually is somewhat of a question for me...in high school, it was pretty clearly Sarasota, but since then, my parents moved away from there to a place that I don't consider "home," so during college, rather than any Florida location, I fully considered New York to be my home. Now, though, it's pretty clear that home is Los Angeles...though I yearn for New York, which I still consider to be my "true home," so to speak...but I digress), the farthest I've ever been from home is Israel.
During the summer of 1999, I went with United Synagogue Youth (64 other people) on a six-week trip to Italy (one week) and Israel (five weeks). While I won't get into an elaborate summary of the whole trip, suffice it to say that it was a lot of fun and something I'm pleased to have done. While Italy was pretty straightforward (Rome, mostly, with stops in Vatican City, Naples and Pompeii), the Israel portion involved Ukranian cruise ships, camel riding through the desert, rappelling down a cliff, living on a Kibbutz (yes, Jennie, we did live on it...even if we didn't have to work and had a pool party instead of picking oranges or some such nonsense), and traveling into the West Bank in armored buses to have cookies.
However, I did get homesick...six weeks is a surprisingly lengthy period of time. It was bizarre to be almost completely disconnected from US culture, particularly when I came back to find that some random movie called The Blair Witch Project had made over $200 million at the box office. There were definitely times when I would sit on our bus, stare out at the desert as we sped on to our next destination, and count down the amount of time we had left ("Okay, tomorrow will be busy, so that won't be too bad, but we're not doing anything Saturday, so that will be a long day to get through..."). But then we'd go on a crazy Israeli disco boat and I'd just sit back and enjoy the moment.
