Posts tagged television

You Are What You Eat - 2011

Earlier in the year I posted a quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” Makes sense. Here’s what shaped and fashioned me this year:

Early in the year I discovered Film Riot - an internet video podcast starring Ryan Connely and his crew of misfit filmmakers. Every week they dissect film making techniques - often by tackling requests sent in by readers to figure out how to reproduce big budget effects on a DIY budget. They never fail to be entertaining or useful.

I also found Vimeo’s Video School to be pretty useful. The information there can be a little elementary at times, but since they seek to address aspiring filmmakers at every experience level, that only make sense.

Moving from the web to television, Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations was essential viewing. I’ve always loved the show, but this year, in it’s seventh season, it took on an almost religious significance for me. It started with the Haiti episode. There was just something about the scene where Bourdain tried to buy food for a bunch of hungry kids and inadvertantly caused a minor riot - his willingness to show how a seemingly benign act of philanthropy could spin out of control, that our actions, no matter how pure hearted, do not exist in a contextless vacuum. It felt like journalism. It felt like a man making television with nothing to prove. If you can take that kind of honesty and couple it with food porn that’s good TV.

This year also saw the release of a second show from Bourdain called The Layover. It’s presumably filmed on Bourdain’s actual layovers as he travels the globe filming No Reservations. It features Bourdain telling you the best places to eat, sleep, and drink in various cities. It’s No Reservation’s less heady, less serious little brother. I wasn’t hooked by the first episode (Singapore). No problem, I thought, I still have No Reservations. No sense being greedy. But the second episode featured Bourdain in New York, his home base, and it was awesome. It was a Bourdain we rarely see; smiling, comfortable, almost giddy. The best part was him arguing with some poor schlub in hamburger joint about whether you could get good sushi in New York. Hooked.

The Layover features a very different editing style from No Reservations. One I stole from liberally (though poorly)

Moving from the small screen to the big one - I saw a lot of movies in the theater this year - but not nearly enough for my liking - and not nearly enough that really blew my socks off. Here’s what I saw that I liked, though:

Thor and Captain America were both childhood dreams come true, Hanna kept me glued to the screen and looked nice doing it, X-Men: First Class was a nice way to re-imagine a dull franchise, Horrible Bosses was genuinely funny (instead of genuinely grueling like The Hangover 2), True Grit was the western we’ve all wanted for a few years now, and Driver was unexpectedly stylish, compelling, and sad (it’s larger here by random, not because it was my favorite movie by any means).

Musically, I had a lot of favorite bands release new albums this year but none of them truly stood out for me. Instead the highlights of my year musically were all live. First of all there was seeing The Mountain Goats live for the first time at Mercy Lounge in Nashville. Sara loves John Darnielle but had kind of a bad night so out of respect of her, I won’t go on and on about this one:

Next was discovering local boy made good, Vandaveer. Sara and I had a front row table for his show at Natasha’s back in the summer. It was the perfect way to experience a perfect show:

Later in the summer my friends Dan and Jen and I sat with about 30 other people at The Green Lantern and got to hear These United States rehearse a bunch of new songs before taking them into the studio. As far as good shows go, you can’t get much better than that:

Finally, my buddy Paul had his birthday party at Cosmic Charlies at the end of the summer on the same night that one of his favorite bands, Ha Ha Tonka was playing. The band not only sang Happy Birthday to Paul, they let him get on stage and mumble into a microphone for about the minutes while they played. Nicest band ever? Quite possibly:

Oh yeah! I almost forgot! This was also the year that my favorite local band, Sunday Valley, released their first new material in years. It was a great album and cause for celebration:

I watch a lot of TV, see a lot of movies, and listen to a lot of music in a given year - but more than any of those, I read comics. All kinds of comics. What did I read this year that I loved? Glad you asked. 2011 saw the release of the first new issues of Casanova in years. Issue 2, by creators Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba, in particular was comic book magic:

Fraction is my favorite writer in comics. As such, he created more than one book I really liked this year. For instance, his third issue of Mighty Thor was probably the best comic I read all year. It had it all: Norse Gods in space armor, Galactus, naked sword play, Silver Surfer saying cool stuff, Olivier Coipel. That’s a comic!

Other things I loved: Supernatural western, Sixth Gun from Oni Press

Mini comic Wolves from Becky Cloonan:

Weird fantasy book Orc Stain:

There was tons more, but space is limited.

What about books without pictures?

Anthony Bourdain makes good TV and writes good books. This year I read and loved his memoirs Medium Raw:

I also thoroughly enjoyed Blood, Bones & Butter, by chef Gabriel Hamilton:

Notice how both the books I mentioned were more or less about food? I love food. So it only make sense to mention some of the great meals I had this year. Cooking is as much of an art as writing or creating music or films after all.

This year Sara and I discovered Nick Ryan’s Saloon in downtown Lexington and had the best braised short ribs ever:

Our other great discovery was Nicaraguan Latin Grille, a little whole in the wall that blew out socks off:

We also went to Azure, home of local culinary star, Jermy Ashby, and had an incredible seven course meal. Below is just one of the delicious plates:

Then there was Hawaii. We had a lot of great Hawaiin food. Too much to get into, but suffice to say, I now have a deep abiding appreciation for macaroni salad:

There were tons more from tons of great restaurants like Cheng’s , Pho BC, Sam’s Hot Dogs, Planet Thai, Ramirez’ Taqueria, Local Taco, Doodles, Rossi’s, Ramsey’s, Winchell’s, Marikka’s, and El Rancho Tapitio.

Well, that’s it. That was what I ate in 2011. That’s what I loved, took in, digested, and was shaped by. Except for the dozen or so things I will think of as soon as I hit the “post” button.

On to 2012!

Television: The New Fall Season

I can’t believe how much TV Sara and I are watching this season. Seems like last year we only watched television on Thursday nights, but since the new fall season started, we’re watching something five nights out of seven. And since the internet was made for harsh evaluation from a distance, here’s what I think of what we’ve watched/are watching so far (While I generally hate subtractive internet criticisms, I also love being snarky about celebrities and network television. I am large, I contain multitudes):

Mondays:

-How I Met Your Mother: Sara really likes this show. I like it okay, I guess. The formula the show seems to rely on where somebody’s always telling a story that takes forever kind of grates on me. It does have a lot of funny lines, though. And there’s something about the relationships on the show that reminds me of FRIENDS if FRIENDS didn’t take itself so seriously. Also, Jason Segal is funnier than Neil Patrick Harris.

-Two Broke Girls:

It shouldn’t be enjoyable. Kat Dennings, while gorgeous, delivers hardened, cynical one-liners like she’s reading from a cue card being held up by puppies and cute babies. It’s totally incongruous. And apparently there’s another girl on the show. It may be the blond coat rack I keep noticing. We keep watching it in spite of itself and ourselves. Also, I’m not sure what I think of the money gimmick. I think they need to commit to it or lose it. If the total goes up at the end, it better have been a part of the show. But then you might as well be watching a show about finance or Jim Kramer yelling at you about the stock market and, I suspect, pooping himself in the process.

-Two And A Half Men: I’m going to admit my sins here. I thought Charlie Sheen was funny on this show. On a week night, exhausted from a hard day at work, sitting down to dinner with Sara, both of us needing a little TV to numb our nerves, two syndicated episodes of Two and A Half Men in a row might as well have been a valium. That being said, Charlie Sheen screwed the pooch pretty bad and now we’re all having to pay the price. Ah well, nothing gold can stay, Pony Boy. Sure Sheen was dead behind the eyes, but it seemed like a hard earned numbness - not actual vacancy, like Ashton Kutcher.

-The Playboy Club: When a scientist walked into ABC and told producers he could clone Jon Hamm, I’m sure everyone was skeptical. But then, the first time the clone spoke from behind the bandages, everyone allowed themselves to really begin to hope; the voice was spot on. But what about the face? Once the bandages were removed I’m sure everyone was more than a little horrified to see what amounted to a handsome jack-o-lantern, raised eyebrow and dimples, etched and unmoving. Jon Hamm-lite and The Playboy Club are both a little like non-alcoholic beer - familiar tasting but ultimately watered down and pointless.

P.S. - The worst part of the series so far has been a bit from the first episode where they had Hugh Hefner doing some kind of moral-of-the-stor voice over, all sage-like and wise. I’m sorry, but you have to pick: you can be the creepy old guy that sleeps with and occasionally marries inflatable women a quarter of your age or you can be the wise old guy. You can’t be both.

Tuesdays

-The New Girl: Zooey… so cute… so likable… so believably quirky. The show is funny, but I can already see a day where Zooey’s character could become an overdone caricature of herself. “Jess! Where did this zebra come from?” “Why are you wearing mittens on your feet?” “Why is there a hacked up torso in the freezer?” I’m not trying to jinx the her, I swear. I just see a day on the horizon where the show is either going to be forced to choose between fleshing out the quirk a little, or creating another Phoebe Buffay. But cuter.

Parenthood: Sara loves this show. Nearly everybody I know loves this show. Something about it bothers me. Sometimes it’s too real, sometimes it’s not real enough. Is that a meaningless enough critique? My real problem with the show is the couple with the kid who has Aspergers - especially the dad. He’s so hard on everybody, so unforgiving and judgmental. Sure, he eventually comes around and learns a valuable lesson, but it seems like he has to learn the lesson every week. Everybody is a huge disappointment to him and it’s hard to watch. This all feels very psychological. Am I the dad? Am I the kid? Am I the old guy from Coach? I’ve been all over the TV dial, but I’ve never… been… to me!

Wednesdays

-Modern Family: The show just gets funnier. Also, Sara and I are totally the gay couple.

-Up All Night: Probably my favorite new show of the season. I love Will Arnett and I’m really starting to love Christina Applegate. Mostly, though, I love the subject matter: Two likable people struggling with what it means to suddenly be parents. It’s done well and very smartly. I’m sure part of the attraction for me is the stage in life that Sara and I are hoping to enter soon - but regardless of any such biases, it’s a well written show and Arnett and Applegate are great together.

Thursdays

-Community: Last year, Community was the high point of comedy on television for me. The bit where Troy is carving notches in a table, below the word “notches” was so pure, so unexpected… This year its’ been good, but still hasn’t had it’s defining moment yet. Clearly the show is all about group dynamics, but it seems like every episode so far has been like, “Wow, look at our group dynamics.” It’s telling instead of showing. I have a lot of faith in the show, though. It’s just off to a slow start.

-The Office: Is it bad to say that I haven’t missed Michael yet? I loved him, but you’re really seeing how he was just one member of a talented ensemble cast. Also, James Spader really helps the medicine go down.

-Whitney: Terrible. Just Terrible. Get this crap out of my 30 Rock spot.

-Parks and Rec:

I find it so weird that this show has become some kind of hipster touchstone. Shouldn’t hipsters be out on Thursday nights buying hats or something? I can remember watching that first season of Parks and Rec and thinking, “Thanks guys, but The Office is already a thing.” Man, the show has come into it’s own, though. Everybody is hilarious. Also, Ron Swanson fans, if you’re ever watching Deadwood and see Nick Offerman’s names in the credits, prepare yourselves for something you never thought you’d see.

Big Bang Theory: Almost everybody I know loves this show. It took me a while to get on board. I think I was distrustful at first because of it’s constant comic book references. Kind of like watching somebody else play rough with your kids, I imagine. It’s fine for me to toss them up in the air, but who the heck are you? That being said, I’ve come to enjoy the show, even though I think they’ve actually replaced Kaley Cuoco with her slightly less attractive sister last season and nobody noticed.

Always Sunny In Philadelphia: Hard to watch, but impossible to look away from. Like a car wreck. Or Republican primaries. But with less depravity.

Fridays and Saturdays

Sorry, we’re too busy being awesome on the weekends, suckahs (we read a lot and go to bed early…)

Sundays

-Pan Am:
“Hey, let’s try and milk this Mad Men thing some more!”
“Okay! How?”
“Let’s put them on a plane!”
“Stewardesses!”
“Awesome!”
“Wait, I don’t think I can write an interesting show about stewardesses.”
“That’s okay! Make them spies!”
“Yes!”

Since I’ve known a few stewardesses in my life, let me just point out, the above is a reflection on unimaginative writers, not the lives of flight attendants.

Good grief, that’s a lot of TV! I’m gonna go read!

The TV GUIDE! Psyche!