How I Met Your Mother: The Over-Reaction

     I was challenged to get deeper with my HIMYM posts, but I really have no idea what to do with this episode.  It wasn't funny.  It wasn't interesting.  It suffered from everything I've complained about over the last year or two.  You know your show is in trouble when the best joke in the episode involves a married couples single parents getting it on.  I was going to write something about the ratings going up while the creativity continues to free fall, but then I looked at the ratings and realized that just wasn't the case.  As much as you hear about CBS and the creators thinking about going forward with a ninth season because the shows ratings have never been better, nothing could be further from the truth.  While season 7 started at abnormal highs, the ratings have quickly found there way back to season three and four levels.  It seems pretty obvious that the only people still watching are those of us who feel pot committed; the people watching are fans who are fighting through the pain to stay loyal and find out who the mom is, not some wider audience who actually finds it entertaining.
     The show runners said that they have until the end of the month to decide if they are going to go another season or not.  I'm not sure I could watch another season of this, loyal or not, curious about the mom or not.  So I ask all of you to pray with me that Jason Segel and/or Neil Patrick Harris hold out or the creators come to their senses and realize they are running on fumes, so this show can be put out of its misery and we can be left with thoughts of when this show was great.
     14 more (oh please, oh please, oh please only 14) episodes to go!

New Girl: Bathtub

     This week was far from the best New Girl episode of the season, but there was still so much to like.  The jokes didn't come as rapid fire as the best of the season, but there was a lot away from the funny that worked.  First of all, this is the first episode this season that was able to do some justice with Winston.  It's still far from perfect, but it was nice to see him involved in a story line that he was a major part of.  I would have loved to see his panic attack strip teases used in a solo story, maybe at a setting like his job, but baby steps.  It's a wonderful angle to bring back now that it's established because I think there is still comedy gold to mine from it.  I really hope the writers build off his envolvment and don't go back to keeping him in the perrifery.
     Schmidt also had a solid episode and it had more to do with subtley then his normal over the top performance.  The drunk scene between him and Cece, while funny as well, was a fantastic bit of acting between the two of them.  Although the shows biggest strength is in it's jokes and one liners, there is a lot of heart and this scene is a perfect example of how to balance the funny with the emotional.
     Of course the best part of the episode was Olivia Munn!  Does it get any better then Zooey Deschanel and Olivia Munn on the same show?!?!  I pretty much lost it.  It's a geek boy's wet dream.
      But let's not totally forget the funny.  I chuckled every time I saw that lightning bolt on Schmidt's back.  And his "might as well be bathwater, it's rose" was fantastic.  I'm really starting to love the reaccuring Rami character.  He's so uncomfortably funny and over the top, but it really works in the small doses we get him in.  Probably the gag that had me laughing the most was the old man Sid rubbing Olivia's back as she made out with Nick at the bar.  It had me in stitches.
      It was far from the best of the season, but just because Olivia Munn showed up I'm giving it a win...6-1 (and yes, Ken, I know I'm too forgiving).  Oh, I almost forgot Nick's quote of the week... "Neither of you have the right bra for this!"

The Walking Dead: Made To Suffer

     I'll start by saying this was a great season.  The building of tension and the development of character was stronger then we've seen on the show previous.  We knew there was something dangerous about the Governor when we first met him, but what we've seen him go through has set up a man on the edge of insanity and what looks like one of TV's greatest villains.  It's even more impressive when you compare it to a similar trip that Rick took, but seems to have had a different response.  It was an amazing half season journey that leaves a ton of hope for how awesome the second half can be.
     But that's not what I want to talk about.  There's another issue that the season finale brought up that I couldn't help but dwell on.  I'm not normally one to address issues of race, it usually feels petty to me whenever people complain about minority representation in media, but I'm finding it hard to ignore this year.  With New Girl unable to find anything to do with Winston and The Walking Dead's seeming quota on how many black guy characters they have, I can't help but mention how horrible minority characters are being handled.  Twice this season The Walking Dead writers introduced a new black male character, but only after killing off a black male character in the same episode.  Coincidence?  Maybe, but you would like to see, in this day and age, a show this popular find something better to do with minority characters then use them as zombie fodder.  Those of us who have read the comics know that Tyreese is a major comic in the books and those of us who watched The Wire know that Chad Coleman is a major actor, so the chances that he stays around and plays a bigger role then T-Dog and Oscar are pretty big, but that still doesn't change how black males have been handled so far.
     It's easy to play off as a corny joke or a stupid cliche, but why shouldn't we start holding writers to a higher standard.  There is no reason that minority characters can't play as strong a role as the white ones.  If this show wants to reach the next level, to be progressive as well as popular, it needs to find a purpose for the black males it writes into the story, it needs to not be scared to have more then one token for each race.  Give them a little depth and meaning and stop making their main purpose to feed the zombies.

How I Met Your Mother: Lobster Crawl

     I was challenged to bring more to these posts then just complaining about how horrible the show has become, so instead of just pointing out how trite and cliche having a story line about missing your child's first moments while someone else gets to experience them is, I'm going to try to go a little deeper.  I'll probably fail, but at least I'm going to try... right?
     One of the biggest problems the writers of HIMYM have written themselves into is the fact most of the characters in the show have become so unlikable.  The style of comedy that the show has based itself on, or at least accomplished so well at one point, one where the emotion of the show is as important as the comedy, requires us to like and sympathize with the characters.  Once that sympathy is gone, all the power behind the punch is gone and you are left with a shell of the what the show once was.  If I don't care for a character or don't sympathize with what they are going through, the joke or the emotional moment gets lost.  This has become the biggest problem with every episode that revolves around Robin and Barney.  Both are such horrible people that we have very little emotional involvement with them.  What made them compelling as a couple is that they were so perfect for each other because they we so awful towards everyone else.  Do I feel sorry when one of them has there heart broken?  No, because there is such a deep history of them not carrying about how they treat others I could care less about the feeling being returned.  I know I'm supposed to feel bad when Robin shows up at Barney's apartment dressed in nothing but a tight negligee and gets rejected, but she was such a horrible person who had such horrible motivations for her actions all episode long that I felt nothing.
     There's a long line of likable horrible people in comedy.  Seinfeld was a show based on a series of characters that were all horrible people and many consider it the best sitcom ever made.  When HIMYM was at it's absolute best Barney was a horrible person that everyone tuned in to watch.  But what makes these examples different then where HIMYM is now, is that nobody every rooted for George to get the girl.  We fell off the couch laughing when he did something horrible and it came back to burn him, but we were never asked to feel sorry for him.  Barney has mistreated women for eight seasons, Robin has been nothing short of horrible, yet we are suddenly supposed to feel sorry for them getting a little bit back.  It just doesn't work or ring true.
     That's not to say that the characters aren't allowed to grow.  There can be repentance for bad behavior, there can be redemption, and if that is where the show is going with these characters, then maybe I'm judging to early, but I can't help but feel that all these moments of late are unearned.  Barney has showed more signs of reform then Robin, but neither has reached a point where I'm able to feel sorry for them.  It also doesn't help that we know where the story is going, that they are going to get to the point where they are prepared to get married.  I mean, knowing that, how can the story line that has Barney on a date with the weird fat girl end well?  Where are they going to take that story that helps redeem Barney's behavior?
     To end on a somewhat positive note, I did get a couple a laughs out of this episode.  Lilly's play off her familiar "son of a beech" catch phrase, "son of me" got a chuckle.  And the first Santa visit revenge Lilly and Marshal got on Ted at the end of the episode may have been the best joke we've seen from the show in a season or two.  It was an original take on the cliche story line we had to watch for 20 minutes.
     15 more pain sessions left!

New Girl: Eggs

     Winston is really starting to become a serious problem for this show.  The writers need to decide what to do with him or get rid of him because his lack of significance to the show is really holding it down.  Even when it looks like we are finally going to get a Winston story line and follow him to work it's only to set up a Nick story line.  There's room for more Winston and Lamorne Morris seems capable enough as a comedic actor so something needs to be done.  On a show where everything else is so strong, it doesn't seem like much to ask to give this character more to lift.
     I wasn't crazy about the Nick story line this week either.  It's the first time Nick has come off as totally flat this season.  Jess, on the other hand, was brilliant.  This was definitely Zooey's week to do the heavy lifting and she came through in spades.  She has shown that she has a knack for the physical comedy but this week was all about her one liners.  The comedic timing of the whole cast is just so spot on.  The scene between Schmidt and the gynecologist when he describes how he pleasures a women was great.  "Everybody gets a churro," should be the next big catch phrase!
     For that scene alone this week gets a win, 5-1.  There were no great Nick quotes this week, so I'll give the week to Jess when she said, "I want to give my nipples a purpose!"

How I Met Your Mother: 12 Horny Women

     This week's example of horrible writing... We get introduced in the first five minutes that after the last kiss between Barney and Robin, things are weird between them.  We then spend the next 15 to 20 minutes watching them interact in a perfectly normal manner with no suggestion or appearance of weirdness to only have the weirdness brought back up in the final minute.  I'm going to ignore the fact that at this point in their relationship there is very little to be weird about (they've already had sex, they've already dated, they are both single, etc, etc, etc) and only point out that this is as lazy as writing gets.  They obviously had an idea where they want the relationship to be but didn't feel the need to establish more then two minutes of time to it.  Not only did they only devote two minutes to it, but they decided to consciously ignore their own established premise for most of the episode.  It's insulting.
     Once again there was nothing funny, there was nothing interesting, there was nothing that pushed the bigger story forward.  The only thing it had going for itself was an appearance by Mr. Belding!  16 more probably painful episodes to go.

Book Review: In One Person by John Irving (48 in 2012? #40)

          A friend of a friend says that you shouldn’t read more then one book by a given author in a calendar year.  I’ve read five John Irving books over the last two and I’m beginning to see his point.  I don’t want to take anything away from Irving’s work, but I’m starting to get burned out on all his themes.  I may have only read five of his novels but they span the length of his career and all contain wrestling, private schools, professional authors, sexual perversion, the German language, and New England.  I’m probably even missing a few things.  Bears seem to be prevalent as well, but I missed any mention of them in In One Person.
            I’m trying to see the forest through the trees and that being the case I don’t want to knock this novel.  If you enjoy Irving, this is a very solid story and if you haven’t ever read his work you obviously won’t have the problems I mentioned in the first paragraph.  Again, I’ve only read five of his 14 novels, but In One Person is easily the most perverse of his work that I have read and that is saying a lot.  One of the things I enjoy most about Irving, though, is how he tackles perversion without making the reader uncomfortable.  He writes with such ease about taboo subjects without sensationalizing them.  I’m sure there are many people who wouldn’t enjoy reading about transvestites, gay sex or incest but Irving presents them all in such a way that you are excepting when you should be excepting, uncomfortable when you should be uncomfortable and appalled when you should be appalled.  He has found a way to write truthfully about sex without being salacious.
            One of Irving’s other strengths is his ability to write deeply human characters and In One Person is no exception.  Irving isn’t scared of flawed characters, especially his protagonists, and it is a trait that gives his works such amazing depth.  Although they usually find themselves in absurd predicaments, the characters themselves never feel absurd.  Even ones that could easily turn into caricatures find a way to keep the humanity that keeps the stories grounded.  Grandpa Harry is obviously a source of comic relief, but at the same time serves a deep emotional significance to the narrator, Billy.  It would have been easy for Irving to leave him as a one dimensional character, but making him more human brought the stories themes to life.
            In One Person was at its best as a novel when it talked about AIDS.  Once the epidemic became a plot point, the novel reached an emotional high and brought home many of the themes that had been building for pages.  Irving wrote about the almost forgotten time when HIV was a death sentence with such poignancy, one can’t help but feel not only for the people who died but those that were left behind as well.
            Recurring themes aside, In One Person is a good read, but not a great one.  If you enjoy Irving’s work, you will most likely enjoy this one.  If you have never picked up one of his books, this isn’t where I would suggest you start, but there is still much to get out of it.

Top 5: James Bond Movies

          So, this was supposed to go out last week, in honor of the release of the 23^rd James Bond movie.  I’ve long had a fascination with the character that started with the movies and led me to read almost all of Fleming’s novels.  I thought about listing my Top 5 Bond books just to be different, but it’s been so long since I’ve read them I don’t really feel prepared for that.  Maybe I will give them a re-read and that list will come some time in the future.  There are a ton of possible interesting Bond lists, Top 5 Bond Girls, Top 5 Bond Girl Names, Top 5 Bond cars, Top 5 Bond Gadgets, Top 5 Bond Theme Songs, I’d only be leaving out one, but I could even do Top 5 Bonds.  Chances are one or more of those lists will pop up somewhere in the future, but for now I decided to just go generic and do my Top 5 Favorite James Bond Movie.  I’ve decided to keep Skyfall off the list because it’s still too fresh.  I loved it and would probably put it one or two, but I want there to be a little bit of time for it to stew before it gets listed.

5) Octopussy

            It’s long been said that your first Bond movie is always the best Bond movie.  While not my absolute favorite, Octopussy makes this list probably because it was the first one I ever saw.  It’s widely considered one of the worst Bond films, but it still holds a place in my heart.  As I’ve gotten older I’ve found myself annoyed by most of Roger Moore’s turn as Bond, yet this movie has always entertained me.  It’s light on crazy gadgets and the plot is a little convoluted, but I love Maud Adams and nothing ever compares to that first Bond experience.

4) Goldeneye

            This movie will probably be best remembered for the Super Nintendo game that went along with it, but it was also the triumphant return of the Bond franchise after a long layoff and fear that the character wouldn’t resonate in the new non-Soviet world.  I would put every other Brosnan film on my Top 5 Worst Bond films, but this one is just too good to knock.  It made one believe that Brosnan was going to be as great a Bond as Connery.  Little did we know that every other film he would be in was going to be more about big explosions and horribly casted Bond girls.  This movie didn’t suffer from either of those.  It has an interesting plot that focused on story not spectacle and Famke Janssen may be the best Bond girl ever.

3) From Russia With Love

            This was the first Connery film I saw and the first Bond book I read.  There really shouldn’t be much argument that the Connery films are by far the best of the series.  There is just something about the way he plays the character and the fun stories that were told.  While the Moore films feel horrible dated there is something timeless about the ones Connery starred in.  This is a classic Bond tale that set most of the things we have come to expect from Bond movies such as the pre-title action sequence, Bond gadgets, a helicopter sequence and Desmond Llewelyn as Q.

2) On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

            This film, which has the series only one time Bond, George Lazenby, has recently found itself resurging in popularity.  For decades it was considered to have a black mark because of Lazenby’s presence, but people have come to realize that it is actually one of the best of the Bond movies.  Its story is more personal then any other Bond and is the only movie, other then Casino Royale, where Bond has a serious relationship with a woman.  The film's ending is totally unexpected and leaves us on a note that is a huge departure from the series.  Part of the love of Bond comes from getting those moments that we have come to expect from the character, but this movie’s departure is what makes it such a good movie.  Lazenby may be the most forgettable of the Bonds but the movie he is in is easily one of the best.

1) Goldfinger

            I know, it’s the Joe Bloggs answer to the question, but there really can’t be much denying that this is the best Bond film ever made.  It has the best Bond girls, the best Bond villains, the best Bond.  The plot strays from the typical Cold War espionage of the era and proves that Bond doesn’t need The Soviet Union to be interesting.  Goldfinger is easily the most iconic of the Bond bad guys along with his henchman, Oddjob.  Although both only appear in one movie, they are easily more recognizable then any of the characters that appear in multiple movies in the series.  It also has the most famous line in Bond history other then “shaken not stirred,” “No, Mr. Bond.  I expect you to die.”  This movie is everything great about James Bond and is the standard that all other Bond movies will be held up to.

Honorable Mentions: Dr. No, You Only Live Twice, A View To A Kill, Skyfall

New Girl: Parents

     I guess it figures that a well written ensemble comedy would do a wonderful job with guest stars.  All three high profile guest stars were perfectly cast and perfectly written.  Rob Reiner and Jamie Lee Curtis did the heavy lifting in this episode and pulled it off wonderfully.  Not that we would expect anything else from these two giant stars, but the balance they were able to strike between heavy emotional moments and subtle comedic beats was right on.  Rob Riggle might have had a less important role in the episode, but he was just as perfect out Schmidt-ing Schmidt.  It wasn't his line, but his character's younger representative had one of the best lines of the episode, "I'm the strong kind of fat!"
     As always, Nick was the glue that kept the episode together, having great moments with everyone in the cast.  The scenes of him sitting on the couch with Jess's dad and flirting with Jess's mom were easily the funniest of the episode.
     Another super funny New Girl episode, the writers are obviously in a groove, 4-1.  And the Nick quote of the week is, "I've got something bad inside me that ruins everything."

How I Met Your Mother: Stamp Tramp

          Two or three years ago, this episode would have been a homerun, but with the current slate of writers, or at least how the writers have been performing of late, it's a barely passable roller coaster ride of ups and downs.  There were some good moments, but those moments were surrounded by a bunch of substandard jokes and unearned moments.  It hurts to write that HIMYM has a bunch of unearned emotional moments, but that's where we've been so far this season.  It should have been a nice little moment at the end of the episode between Lily and Ted, but Ted has become so insufferable that it felt forced and overly sappy.  Remember when we liked Ted, when he was the main character, the emotional center?  Now it's gotten to a point where the writers have to make Ted realize how insufferable he is just to try and salvage the character.  I'm sure they'll argue that it was the journey they were taking Ted through the whole time, but I don't buy it.
          On the positive side, I enjoyed the gag about the sabermetric strip club and the idea of the stamp tramp, although not totally realized, was classic HIMYM.  On the negative, the Lebron jokes were two years too late and I've come to totally despise every time the phrase, "But we'll get to that later." is uttered.
          It didn't live up to old HIMYM standards, but it didn't offend me... 17 more to go!

Book Review: Christianity on Trial: Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry (48 In 2012? #39)

          I don’t really have much to say about this book, but in an effort to document everything I read this year in hopes of reaching 48 books, here’s a brief review.  I’ll start out by confessing I am a Christian, maybe not as devout as I should be, or someone who falls in lockstep with everything the Church says, but enough that my point of view is one that Christianity, as imperfect as it may be, is a cause for good in the world.  In recent years, as Christianity has become more prevalent in U.S. politics, there has been a huge push back on the religion.  Mainstream media has painted a stereotype of Christians that everyone seems to be buying into.  One that says all Christians are easily influenced, close minded, stupid hicks or crazy psychopaths.  That’s where this book comes in.  In an attempt to defend being Christian and debunk the stereotype that has been created, the authors have laid out the good Christianity has brought to the world and tried to discredit all the misnomers.
            Christianity on Trial is an interesting look at snap shots of Christian history and the amazing things the religion has brought to society, many of which we take for granted in today’s world.  But if the authors truly had hopes of changing the minds of dissenters, there is very little here that I think would accomplish that goal.  Plus, as much good as Christianity has done, there are plenty of horrible things done in Christ’s name that the authors can do nothing to discredit.  If anything this is an interesting history book and a nice reminder of the positive aspects of the Christian religion, a religion that has defined what charity is, created the most functional government in the history of the world, and has almost always been ahead of society with civil rights.  If you’re a Christianity hater, chances are this book isn’t going to have any effect on you.  If you have very little interest in religion, you should probably stay away as well.  But this quick read has a bunch of interesting facts for those who like to read light history.

New Girl: Menzies

     In all fairness to How I Met Your Mother, I can't review this week's New Girl without talking about hackneyed sitcom plots.  I don't want it to appear like I am being overly critical of HIMYM, which I blasted this week for using a bunch of standard comedy situations in a horribly unfunny episode, while giving the new kid on the block a pass.  There isn't a more hack sitcom episode then the PMS one and New Girl went there this week.  Was it inevitable for a show with the set up of one girl living with three guys?  Maybe.  But it seems so easy and obvious and I thought New Girl and its writers were above easy and obvious.  I guess no matter how original and fresh your joke writing may be, those old crutches are hard to not fall back on.
     Where New Girl differs from HIMYM is that Menzies was hilarious outside of the shows overdone main premise.  Even though the main story line is Jess not wanting to look for a job and blaming it on PMS, this was a Schmidt episode.  The genius of a well done ensemble comedy is you only need one character to carry an episode and if that ensemble is firing on all cylinders they will switch off who that character is.  Schmidt did most of the carrying in this episode and turned what could have been a horrible half hour into a laugh riot.  With lines like "you're irrationally angry 365 days a year," when talking to Nick or "there's a fine line between sexual harassment and something awesome" when talking about his bosses passes at him or "we sold our qualms.  We used the profits to buy perfect bodies" when talking about his sex appeal, he had me laughing until I fell off the couch.  And that's not even mentioning his attempts to collect money for the bills.
     I don't want to leave Nick out of the conversation.  Even with Schmidt carrying the heaviest load, Nick had plenty of great moments trying to deal with his anger.  Scenes of him trying to force a pull door open by pushing or being pulled around a whirlpool by an old Asian man may have been odd but I was in stitches.
     The moral of the story... you can get away with a hackneyed premise if you write funny jokes.  Did you hear that HIMYM writers?  You have to write funny jokes to make people laugh!

     Nick quote of the week, "I can't keep thinking of you as my magical friend with no name."

Movie Review: Skyfall

          I’ve been a little worried that, in an attempt to “fix” the popularity of the James Bond franchise, the makers would try to make him Jason Bourne lite.  I don’t find the Bourne movies very interesting or all that well made.  The plots are OK but the way they shoot the action leaves me with a headache and no idea what was going on.  But with one line my worries were washed away.  James Bond isn’t Jason Bourne, he’s Batman!  M declares late in the movie that orphans make the best recruits and suddenly everything came into focus.  M is Commissioner Gordon, Q is Lucius Fox, and a new character we meet in this movie is clearly Alfred.  Both Bond and Batman drive fancy cars that shoot missiles, carry around various crazy gadgets, are highly trained in various forms of hand to hand combat, try to take down bad guys “from the shadows,” and can take long amounts of time off without missing a beat.  If Batman would just start sleeping with random women and Bond would become a little more morose, they would be identical.

            I don’t point all this out to take the piss out of the Bond franchise.  I love Batman and I love Bond.  The fact that their stories are so similar just makes me Bond all that much more.  The fact is Skyfall is a fantastic movie whither the main character feels like a realistic Batman or not.  Sam Mendes did an incredible job straddling the line between high art and high action.  Skyfall has both impressively framed camera shots and huge explosions, something we have been lulled into believing can’t happen.  Leave it to a James Bond movie to remind us all what an action movie can look like when well made.  The fight scene in the glass building done in silhouette is everything the Bourne films aren’t.  You can see every punch and kick, not missing one bit of the action, and it’s all done with an extremely artistic shot.  The introduction of Javier Bardem as our baddy, Silva, was another great example of Mendes using art to enhance an action movie.  The odd angle of the camera from behind a tied up Bond and its slow zoom in as Silva walks the length of the long room adds an ominous sense to the character and the situation Bond finds himself in.

            People have been saying for years now that James Bond is a character who has lost touch with our modern world.  That his cavalier style, playboy persona and corny ploys just don’t work with today’s more sophisticated audiences.  But that doesn’t have to be true.  Everything that made James Bond one of the greatest film characters ever can be tweaked to fit in a modern world because at his core he is still an amazingly compelling character.  Skyfall both directly and indirectly tackles this point.  The film is essentially about the fight between old and new and how we bring old ways into an ever changing world.  Mendes did a great job of addressing this same theme while making the movie.  He was able to sift out what we all loved about the old Bond movies and combine them with a more modern sensibility.  He threw the old fans the bones they want without hurting the serious tone this movie demanded.  And the result is one of the best Bond movies ever and a reminder of what action movies can be capable of.

            Like every action film, there are times were you are forced to suspend your disbelief, as wonderful a movie as Skyfall is Mendes does rely on a few action movie troupes, but everything else is done so well it’s easy to let it pass.  Bardem is incredible as the obviously mentally disturbed Silva.  I wasn’t a huge fan of either of the previous Craig Bond films, but he was great in this one showing the wear and tear the job has taken on Bond’s soul.  If I have any complaint it’s that the themes of the movie are a bit heavy handed, but again, it’s such an interesting theme that I quickly forgive it.  This is very much a must see movie.  It should also be a contender for a few Oscars, but I’m not getting my hopes up there.  Much like comedies, popcorn action movies don’t get recognized as much as they should when it comes awards time.  Oscar or not this is one of the best movies of the year

How I Met Your Mother: Splitsville

     It's late... I'm tired... and I have no idea why I'm still writing about this show.  Splitsville was about as typical a horrible sit-com as one could write.  The plot development used tropes as old as story writing.  Robin couldn't break up with a dumb boyfriend because the sex was so good.  Never heard that one before.  Lilly is horny because she just had a kid and her and Marshal don't have the freedom to do it.  Where do these writers get these crazy ideas?  What killed me most about that storyline was that it ended with Ted doing exactly what he should have done a few episodes ago when he was whining about Lilly and Marshal not going out.
     There was nothing funny in this episode.  I don't know that I even smiled.  I'm just playing out the string at this point because this show is close to unwatchable.  Instead of bothering to keep a record, I'm just going to count down what is God willing going to be the end of the show.  By my count we have 18 more episodes to sit through.  Fingers crossed they don't sign on for 24 more!

The Walking Dead: Say The Word

     The first "slow" episode of the season.  It feels like the show has been going on wrap speed for the last four episodes with all the action and crazy revelations.  This week was finally time to take a breather and dive into a little character development.  Not much happened but at the same time, so much happened and that is why I find this show so interesting and enjoyable.  Rick started what seems to be a deep journey into insanity (and if you read the comics you realize how far he's already traveled), The Governor turned up the creep factor, and Michonne is now off killing zombies on her own.  The zombie body count went up a bunch more, but after what we've seen so far this season, this was a quiet episode that is obviously working to build up more intense things.
     I love how the writers have changed the outward appearance and behavior of The Governor while not changing a thing about the character.  If anything, this apparently even tempered man, who acts benevolent and caring, is even scarier then the crazy violent biker madman.  This version feels more cult leaderish and adds to the show horror themes with an off the charts creep factor.  His wooing of Andrea and his obvious unease around Michonne, not to mention the zombie kid he's keeping and the fish tank of heads, sets up an obviously disturbed man who is amazingly able to cover his mental illness and what is scarier then that.  He's a ticking time bomb that we will wait all season to blow.
     Rick, on the other hand, is a bomb that has already gone off.  The explosion was at the end of last season and we've seen nothing but a slow spiral into despair since.  The death of his wife, as estranged as they seemed in the first few episodes, seems to be the final straw.  His zombie murder spree was obviously crazed and it the writers are taking the phone idea from the comics, things are only going to get worse.  The question is, are the writers going to let Rick come back?  Are they going to keep with the theme that this is a world filled only with despair or will Rick find his way out of his crazed fog?
     This was another great episode in what is looking to be the best season of The Walking Dead yet.

Book Review: The Life Of Pi by Yann Martel (48 in 2012? #38)

          The Life of Pi is really the tale of two stories.  One is incredibly interesting, compelling and thought provoking, while the other is amazingly boring, repetitive and mind dulling.  The novel starts out as a wonderful story about a young Indian boy whose parents own a zoo.  It’s a great study of faith and organized religion that presents solid arguments for the importance of zoos and religious tolerance.  And then the boat sinks and the story comes to a screeching halt; it goes from a fresh tale of faith to a new version of The Old Man and The Sea (that isn’t a complement by the way.  I’m not a Hemingway fan and The Old Man and The Sea is his most boring novel by far).  Thankfully the novel returns once again to the interesting story once the boy finally lands on shore and leaves us with a compelling question of what is real and what role truth plays in our faith.
            The novel begins with a bold declaration that this story will make you believe in God.  I’m not sure why the author builds such high expectations for himself, expectations that no one could live up to.  I understand that meant to be a commentary on truth and faith, but the story still falls far short of making anyone believe in God.  Yes, the boy lives.  Yes, it is unclear what exactly happened on the lifeboat.  Yes, I understand that the point is it doesn’t matter what happened on the boat just that the boy lived, but that doesn’t bring me any closer to the concept of God.  By building such high expectations, Yann Martel, the stories author, just makes the ambiguous ending all that more disappointing.
            For a book that has received such high acclaim, I was surprised at how much it fell flat for me.  As much as I loved the first hundred pages or so, the 200 pages that follow the ship sinking made the book almost unbearable.  All that early momentum was lost in an utterly boring tale of survival.  And even though Martel comes close to saving his tale with an interesting twist at the end, that middle and the expectations Martel himself sets in the beginning is just too much to over come.  If the whole of the book could have been more like the beginning this would have been a great novel, but instead all it becomes is a tedious tale that falls short of its own expectations.

Top 5: Favorite Current TV Characters

     A friend of mine talked me into watching a television show this summer that I had been ignoring for years.  She swore it was something I would love and that it was right in line with my sense of humor and interests.  Little did she know that she would be introducing me to my next obsession.  Yes, I was six years late in my discovery, but Pysch has become one of my favorite shows on television.  I love the humor, I love the 80’s and 90’s has-been guest stars, I love the obscure pop culture references, I love the mocking genre shifts, but most of all I love Shawn Spencer.  With that in mind, as we get ready for season 7 of Psych this February, I am going to list my top 5 favorite characters on TV right now.  Obviously this list is confined to shows I watch, so there will be no Raylan from Justified or Brody from Homeland.  Also, you’ll notice that all the characters are male.  I could make a list of my favorite female characters, but none of them would be in my top 5.  It’s not a slight to all the well written, well acted female characters out there.  Maybe being a male, I just relate to the males more.  I’m not sure.  Feel free to psycho analyze me, but in the mean time, here’s my Top Five…

5) Rafi (The League)

            This is the only character on the list who isn’t a regular and I can’t put into words how much of a travesty that is.  There is no character that makes me laugh harder then Rafi.  He comes into his scenes like a hurricane, leaving huge amounts of laughter and destruction in his wake.  I watch the show each week praying for a Rafi appearance.  I’ve said it a few times before and I’ll probably say it a hundred more, if The League wants to make the jump from consistently funny to the funniest show of TV, they will make Rafi a regular character.

4) Tyrion (Game of Thrones)

            What happens when you cast one of my favorite actors as one of my favorite literary characters?  The number four television character on this list.  Tyrion is really the only likable character in a world filled with grossly detestable people.  He has honor when most don’t.  He has intelligence that most ignore.  And most of all he has a biting sarcasm that is a must in any of my favorite characters.  He is obviously over compensating for the short straw he has been given in life, but that just makes him that much more a compelling character. I’ve only seen season one of the series and I’ve only read the first three books, so I have my fingers crossed that George Martin keeps him around because he has quickly become the reason I watch and read.

3) Nick (New Girl)

            Nick has taken the crown from Chandler Bing from Friends and Hyde from that 70’s show as the snarky, grumpy, sit-com guy who wins my heart.  Easily the most quotable character on TV, Nick’s attitude and demeanor has quickly launched him to the top of my list of people I can’t wait to see each week.  I may have started watching New Girl just because of Zooey Deschanel, but it’s Nick’s one-liners that have me eager to see each new episode.  I really hope they find a way to avoid the almost inevitable Nick/Jess hook up because I really think it will take away from the bitterness that makes Nick so appealing.

2) Abed/Troy (Community)

            OK, this is kind of a cheat, but they really have become one character.  And it’s the way they work together that makes them so entertaining.  Maybe I should have dropped them a little on this list because I have to put them together, but I can’t deny the amount of entertainment these guys give me episode to episode.  They are the heart of what is the best ensemble comedy on TV.  For them to stand out so much from a show filled with stellar characters is a testament to the work they are doing.  In a genre that seems to feel the only characters worth writing are ones with sexual tension, these two have found a way to be both funny and compelling without a “will they or won’t they” story line.  I fear what is going to happen now that Dan Harmon is no longer involved with the show, but for now, these two are great TV.

1) Shawn Spencer

            This has to be the most anti-climatic list I have done with me pretty much announcing who my favorite character was in the opening paragraph and all, but there it is.  Shawn holds all the traits of every character on this list and turns them up to 11.  He’s silly, sarcastic, intelligent, charming.  He always has a pop culture reference at the ready.  He’s blind to how uncool he actually is and that just makes him that much more cool.  Shawn makes a solid show a great show.  He makes he overlook a lot of aspects of Psych that would normally have me not watching with his awesomeness.  If you don’t watch Psych, you really should because television characters don’t get any better then Shawn Spencer.

Honorable Mentions: Roger Sterling (Mad Men), Burton Guster (Psych), Don Draper (Mad Men), Oliver Queen (Arrow), Jeff Winger (Community)

Reviewing The Previews 11/7

     I know this isn’t as regular a post as some might like, but here’s another round of previews.  I just picked a bunch of random trailers off imdb and formed some opinions.  And in case you forgot…

F- I will never see this movie under any circumstances
D- I will never pay theater price to see this movie but may watch it on Netflix
C- I might pay to see this if nothing else is playing, if not I'll catch it on DVD
B- I am not excited, but I'll probably try to catch it in the theater
A- I'm all in

K-11 – F   Sometime in 2012

            I pride myself in being OK with watching almost anything, but this movie looks too disturbing in all the right ways for me to not want anything to do with it.  It looks like its well made and probably well acted, but I just don’t see what value this movie holds.  It doesn’t look entertaining, I doubt it has any kind of message.  I’ll pass.

The Lone Ranger – C  7/3/13

            There are no two words worse to put on a movie trailer then Jerry Bruckheimer.  As interested as a Lone Ranger remake might have made me, I was pretty much out at that point.  This seems like it’s a great opportunity to bring back an icon that has been out of the public eye for years, but the trailer makes it appear like they have dropped the ball.  There was no trace of the William Tell Overture anywhere, not even some crazy techno modern version.  I have very little faith that this is going to be a good movie.

Good Day To Die Hard – B  2/14/13

            This trailer was everything The Lone Ranger wasn’t.  This was a movie a groaned when I heard about it, but after seeing the trailer I’m a little interested.  Great use of music, nice action, big explosions.  It very well may be a case of a better trailer then movie, but I will see this movie a hundred times before I check out The Lone Ranger.

The Lords of Salem – A  Sometime in 2013

            I’m not sure why I haven’t heard anything about this one.  I just clicked on the trailer and by the end I was as excited to see a movie as I have been in a while.  It’s from the producers of Paranormal Activity and Insidious.  And even better it is written and directed by Rob Zombie.  After a couple of Halloween remakes, it looks like Zombie is leaving mainstream horror for a darker creeper more messed up movie that seems closer to his first two movies.  The trailer is super creepy and while it doesn’t look that gory, it certainly does look disturbing.  I can’t wait for this one.

How I Met Your Mother: The Autumn Of Break-Ups

     I was going to write something nice about the latest HIMYM episode, I really was.  There was some stuff that was pretty funny and combine that with my decision to lower my standards of what makes a good HIMYM episode and we were heading to the first positive review of the season.  I loved Brover!  He was easily the best/funniest new character we've seen in years.  The idea of Barney walking around with a suited-up dog as a wing man cracked me up.  I would have loved to have him stay around for a few more episodes, but I will take one solid story line.  Plus knowing the HIMYM writers tendency to return again and again and again and again to certain stories, this may not be the last we see of good old Brover.  My fingers are crossed.  This was also a great Lilly and Marshal episode.  Although the idea of Marshal trying to harness his inner Oprah is extremely silly, it had me laughing.  And of course, it was a great set-up to him giving a series of bad advice.  I think the bad advice could have been a bigger story line then three quick one-liners, but again, I take what they gave me because it was probably the funniest moments we've had all season.
     And then we got to Ted and Victoria.  Oddly enough, after complaining for two seasons now about the writers not sticking to the stories they've set up in the past, I got mad when they brought up something that did happen.  Maybe in an attempt to be a little forgiving for what was being presented to us, maybe because I was to wrapped up getting upset about other things, maybe because I just loved Victoria so much I didn't care, I hadn't even thought about the history of Ted and Victoria to question them getting back together.  Why would Victoria date Ted and hang out with the him and the girl who he broke up with her for?  Nobody would do that!  It wouldn't take until Ted proposed for her to ask him to chose, it would have been the first question when he showed up at her wedding.  Yes, she was obviously looking for a way out of her wedding and Ted provided that, but wouldn't she address the Robin thing right away?  It was already established that she didn't like the relationship between Ted, Barney and Robin.  It's not as egregious an error others we've seen the last few seasons, I understand the rational, but at this point I would have come up with another reason for the relationship to fail then something that should have probably prevented it from starting (of taking off pause) in the first place.  Victoria and Ted breaking up could have been so much more of an emotional moment, but it just fell flat.
     All that being said, I'm feeling generous this week... 2-3

The Walking Dead: Killer Within **SPOILERS**

**THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW**    

     This should have been the most suspenseful episode of The Walking Dead so far, it had all the elements of horror and suspense that even the best horror films lack,but something about the television structure killed the momentum every time things got really reved up.  It didn't help that this was the first episode I have ever watched live. When you fast forward through all the commercials you lose the effect they have on the flow of the show.  It felt like every time something crazy was about to happen and my heart was beating full throttle they would break to an ad and everything built was lost over the next two to three minutes.  But there were issues beyond the commercials.  Every time they came back from commercial, instead of picking up where they left off, we were brought back to Woodbury and some benign conversation between Andrea and someone else.  Maybe without the commercials this would have seemed less intrusive but it just added another 4 to 5 minutes to the separation from the action that was making the episode so great.
     Having two different groups to follow is not an easy task for the writers.  They have to keep the action moving without you losing interest in one group or the other; they don't want the suspense of one group making you forget about what is happening with the other.  I also realize that the writers took a lot of shots last season for things moving to slow and probably feel the need to keep things at an all out pace this season.  But to tell the story right, they need to build up the suspense in Woodbury, something that can't be done in one episode. In a perfect world, I would keep each group to their own episodes, one week we would be with the jail, the other we would be with Woodbury.  This way the action and suspense of the jail happen over a full episode without being broken up and we would never leave the build up of Woodbury for that long.  Unfortunately, this leaves us with one week of crazy action and one week that would seem slow in comparison, something I think the writers are avoiding.
     There were so many great moments of classic suspense in the episode, it's a shame they were cut by the back and forth.  Rick struggling to find the right key for each gate lock as the zombies came out of nowhere to attack the rest of the crew was brilliant.  Lori going into labor as the zombies surrounded the unlocked room they were hiding in was great as well.
     Luckily, neither the commercials nor Woodbury had any effect on the two major moments of the episode, the loss of two characters.  One wasn't much of a lose, as T-Dog was a character the writers never seemed to know what to do with.  It's obviously a common problem for writers to struggle with what to do with black characters in ensemble casts.  They'll have another chance though, since it looks like even though we lost a black guy, we gained a new one.  The other lose was a bigger deal.  It what I can only guess is further proof that the writers are trying to address criticism to the show so far, they killed off the much hated Lori.  The moment was surprising and emotional, well acted and well written.  It was a fitting send of for the character.  The best moment, maybe of the series so far, was when Maggie came out of the jail cell with the baby in hand.  It was all at once a moment of great hope and great sadness.  Andrew Lincoln as Rick and Chandler Riggs as Carl pulled off the acting turns of the series with pitch perfect responses to the horror.
     All in all, it was a wonderful episode of television with many fantastic moments, it's just that I felt it could have been great.  The thing to remember is that we haven't even scratched the surface of how crazy this season will get if the writers continue to follow The Governor story line.
    

Book Review: The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (48 in 2012? #37)

          I’m a huge fan of the time travel genre.  It must appeal to the science fiction fan in me.  I love the dilemmas and paradoxes it brings up.  I love the depth of character wanting to travel through time creates.  I love the adventure and fantasy that goes along with doing something we can only dream of accomplishing.  I’ve seen a ton of time travel movies.  I’ve watched a few time travel television shows.  Heck, I recently did a top 5 time travel movies list.  But I had never read the original time travel novel.  It’s sat in a pile of books since I was a young child and even though I’ve meant to pick it up for years, the only time it got touched was to move it to a new pile.  So it was more then past due when I finally opened the front cover and gave the H.G. Wells classic a read.
            As with most science fiction, The Time Machine is essentially a commentary on politics and society.  The concept of a machine that travels through time may very well be what history has taken from the story, but Wells had much more significant intentions.  At its heart The Time Machine is an anti-industrial revolution novel.  Wells sets up a future where man has conquered nature through technology and left without any sense of danger has become weak, dim and uninspired.  While we are nowhere near the point of the Eloi and Morlocks, I’m sure Wells would use today’s society as proof of his predictions.  Compared to men of his era, I’m sure those of us in this more “advanced” age would seem weak and dim.
            Looking at The Time Machine as a piece of literature or a piece of art, though, there is much to be desired.  There is an obvious lack of character development as we are never given much in the way of motivation or intent.  Everyone is very two dimensional and obviously there just to push along the stories agenda.  Wells style of writing, while never offensive, does not carry with it a sense of elegance or high art.  He is telling a story as efficiently as he can without any pomp or circumstance.
            The strength of The Time Machine clearly lies in its ideas more then in its writing, but those ideas are so creative and revolutionary the book becomes a must read.  This is the story that created a whole genre of story telling, a genre that has become one of the most popular, exciting and interesting genres out there.  None of what is in its 139 pages may seem original to a modern reader, but taken in context of history it is certainly essential reading to any science fiction fan.

Top 5: Greatest American Rock Bands

     When the question arises, what is greatest rock band ever, who comes to mind?  The Beatles?  The Rolling Stones?  The Who?  Maybe Led Zeppelin.  Maybe Pink Floyd.  Some younger kids might say Radiohead.  They’d be wrong, but they may say it.  The thing is all these bands are British.  None of the bands that come immediately to mind are American.  We created the genre, yet the bands that come out of our country just don’t stack up with England.  I’m sure it says something about us as a country that we have tons of music legends, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, but no great bands, or at least, not as great as other countries.  So, I’m going to list what I think are the top 5 greatest American Rock Bands.  As with most of my lists, it’s going to be extremely biased.  I don’t like the Eagles, so they won’t be on there.  You may also notice that all of my picks are mainstream.  How popular a band is certainly plays a part in their greatness.  I’m not listing necessarily the most talented American bands.  And lastly, I may have missed some solid bands as well, it always happens.  One of my future top 5’s will be the top 5 mistakes I made on this blog.  But for now, here are my Top 5 Greatest American Rock Bands…

5) Guns N’ Roses

When I was in middle school there were two major camps of main stream rock fans, the Def Leppard fans and the Guns N’ Roses fans.  I was strongly in the Def Leppard camp, but this is a list of American bands so I won’t go on about that.  I have, however, grown to respect what Axl and Slash accomplished in creating music that has lasted generations.  As normal as it may sound now, the sound Guns N’ Roses created was astounding at the time.  This was a band that broke down barriers between hard rock and main stream music and changed the face of the music scene.  Their demise is well documented and tragic, but at the top of their game they were one of the best around.

4) Metallica

            Another band that I was never a big fan of, but can’t deny the greatness of or the impact they had on music.  They started as a niche band known for how hard and fast they could play and grew into the biggest act in the world.  The growth in just their sound alone shows how talented they were as musicians, forget about how they were able to break free of the stereotype of having just a niche sound.  They essentially created a genre, thrash metal, pushed it into the mainstream and became one of the biggest drawing acts in the world.  Yes, they softened their sound as they grew and that had a huge effect on their ability to cross over, but I won’t hold that against them.

3) Pearl Jam

            Much like when I was in middle school, when I was in high school there was two major camps of music fans, the Nirvana fans and the Pearl Jam fans.  I know that most music experts claim that Nirvana was the better band, the band that had the bigger impact, but I just don’t buy it.  Nirvana may have broken first, but in every other way Pearl Jam was the more successful band.  Its hard to fault a band for not lasting long when a member commits suicide, but the fact of the matter is Nirvana just doesn’t have the library to match up to Pearl Jam.  They also don’t have the record sales.  And as fervent as Nirvana fans are, I’m never met a die hard Nirvana fan.  I do, on the other hand, know a bunch of people who are way to into Pearl Jam.  It also helps that I’ve gotten the chance to see Pearl Jam live, an experience that totally changed my feeling about them as a band.  This is a crazy talented bunch of men who have continued to put out fantastic music while the most of their contemporaries have gone to the way side.

2) Beach Boys

            I am really torn about this selection.  I love the Beach Boys.  They were the first band I really listened to, pulling out all my Dad’s LPs and making a greatest hits tape I could carry with me everywhere.  But at the same time their level of musicianship just doesn’t feel like it holds up to others on my list.  Is that a product of the era they wrote music in?  Maybe, but at times it just felt to much like a creation meant to make money more then make great music.  What made me eventually put them on the list was the influence they seem to have in the music community.  Numerous music greats list Pet Sounds as one of the greatest albums ever recorded and the Beach Boys as a huge influence on their music, and even though I ignored that fact with Nirvana, I’m not going to here.

1) Chicago

I’m talking early Chicago, not the sappy ballad writing wedding band that they became in the early 80’s.  Chicago Transit Authority was one of the most original rock bands ever.  They found a way to combine jazz, soul and rock to form their own sound that was truly amazing.  Oddly, as popular as they would become, they are easily one of the most underrated and forgotten bands out there.  Granted part of that has to do with the 80’s and how far they fell from the genius they created early on.  Terry Rath, their original guitarist, was said to be Jimmy Hendrix’s favorite guitarist and if you listen to the first three albums, you’ll understand why.  The horn section has to be the best horn section in any rock band ever put together.  Listen to “Free” on Chicago 3 and you’ll see what I mean.  These guys can even rock a flute as good as Ian Anderson.  They might not be the most influential band because their sound is so hard to reproduce, but they are hands down the most talented American rock band I’ve listened to and one of the all time biggest sellers.

Honorable Mentions: Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Van Halen, The Foo Fighters, Credence Clearwater Revival, Kiss

New Girl: Halloween

     I've pretty much done nothing but praise this show since I started writing about it.  I jumped in at the right time with two hilarious episodes.  This one, while still having funnier moments then say How I Met Your Mother, wasn't quite as good so I figure I'd focus on the negative this week (You're welcome, Ken).  I don't mean to beat a dead horse but the biggest handicap of this show continues to be Winston, a character that the writers have no idea what to do with and continue to shoe horn into episodes.  This week we were supposed to be interested in him breaking up with a girl who I had forgotten he was even dating.  It's been three weeks since we've seen or heard anything from her, yet we are supposed to somehow be invested in the relationship.  The breakup does bring potential good news, maybe this is freeing up Winston to play a bigger part in the show, but I felt the same thing when he got his own radio show and that was two weeks ago and we haven't heard anything since.  I get that from a writing stand point the show is about Nick and Jess, most great sitcoms are propelled by a will they or won't they story line and Nick and Jess play that role in this one, but this show excels as a ensemble comedy, not a Jess show or a Schmidt show, and keeping Winston on the fringe is wasting a ton of comedy.
     On the bright side... I can't get enough of Jess's bad impressions, keep'm coming New Girl writers!  And the Nick quote of the week is "Little kids are scared.  I just don't like them (haunted houses)."
     Even though it was funnier then any How I Met Your Mother this year, it felt sub-par for what New Girl has been putting out this season so it's going down as a loss... 2-1

Walking Dead: Walk With Me

     THE GOVERNOR HAS ARRIVED!  Most of us who have read the comics have waited two long years for the moment when we would be introduced to The Governor and Woodbury.  I have to admit it wasn't what I expected, but it also far from unsatisfactory.  Some speculated that Merle would become The Governor, so when he showed up in the first 10 minutes of the episode I was sure he was the guy.  What an entrance!  It was everything you would want from The Governor, obvious crazy and bad ass violent.  But the writers decided to go another way with the character of the Governor, a more subtle route with Merle just a lap dog.  They did away with the crazy biker running a city of psychos and gave us a straight laced politician type running a stepford wives community.  I have to admit, I'm excited about this new Governor, there's something way creeper and potentially more volatile about a crazy man who seems to have his shit together.  You can feel the crazy bubbling under the surface and get apprehensive about when it's going to blow.  I do think the fish tank at the end was over doing it.  It really didn't serve any purpose other then to let us know the guy isn't right, and I felt that was established enough during the episode.  I've always been a bigger fan of subtle and the fish tank was anything but.
     I was going to write something about how creepy I found Michonne's pet zombies, the way they just stand there without jaws or arms, rocking back and forth moaning.  But then she did away with them and removed that problem.  The show hasn't gotten into who those zombies were yet and I'm not sure that they will, but in the comics they were her boyfriend and best friend, so the suddenness of her actions was a little startling, yet was a great study into the character.  She carried around these zombies who she was emotionally attached to, yet was will to sacrifice them in a second if she thought they effected her chances of survival.
     So far this season the show seems to be heading in a great direction.  It has picked up some of the most compelling stories from the comics and appears to be doing them justice.  While not lifting them word for word, they have put their own twists on them, twists that change things slightly but keep the heart of the stories in tact.

Book Review: Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick (48 in 2012? #36)

     I seem to have found a theme running through the books I read, or at least the ones I have read and wrote about this year.  I feel I have written quite a bit about the idea of identity.  It seems to be something lots of authors feel the need to explore.  Wither they are dealing with their own issues with the subject or it's just a topic that is easy to mine great stories from, it has popped up time and time again in the books I have read for this 48 in 2012 challenge.  Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said is yet another example of an author exploring the loss of identity and the bigger issues this may lead to.  This story uses the idea of celebrity and it's fleeting nature to question how me define ourselves.
     Philip K. Dick is widely considered one of the greatest science fiction writers ever.  This novel is certainly proof of his genius.  Although it never reads as well as Vonnegut, the ideas conveyed are truly impressive and the world created is amazing.  Some of the dialogue may feel forced and stiff but it does little to undermine the true genius of the story Dick has created.  The characters are well drawn and compelling leaving the reader to care for them even if the world they live in and the actions they take seem a little odd.
     Flow My Tears is set in what would have been the future when the novel was written in 1974.  The feeling of being outdated can be the downfall of many a science fiction novel, but Dick was able to create a world that still feels fresh and possible today.  With the small exception that LPs were still the predominate form of playing music, he made a world that could still happen.  When thought in the context of when it was written, he may have even been ahead of its time with the way it deals with the idea of celebrity.  I wonder what Dick would have thought of today's insane obsession with celebrity, an obsession that seems to add to the points made in Flow My Tears.
     This book isn't for everybody.  As much as it may be a strong satire, it is still very much a science fiction story.  If you're not a fan of science fiction you will probably find it dense and confusing or just plane boring.  But, lucky for me, I love the genre and this book.

New Girl: Models

     I'm struggling a little with how to tackle these New Girl posts.  It's a different beast then the other shows that I write about since it focuses more on the jokes then the plot.  The shows style falls somewhere between How I Met Your Mother's high concept devotion to story and 30 Rock's laugh packed devotion to stacking jokes.  Since the show deals less with where things are going it's hard to write about how the plot has been developed.  I could list all the jokes that made me laugh, but that would be way to long and not at all interesting.  So I'm left somewhere in between.
     Sometimes I think this issue becomes a dilemma for the writers of the show as well.  How much attention should they pay to plot and how much to jokes?  This episode felt like a mini exercise in that argument.  While the premise of the episode, if we met now would we be friends, was really interesting and well set up, by the time we got to the end of the episode it felt a little under served.  I felt like the conclusion to the question was, who cares, but that wasn't very satisfying.  And once again, the Winston character is left as an also ran, third wheel who has little to no involvement.  There could have been more conflict involved and, if the writers were more apt to focus on plot, it felt like a big enough issue to carry into other episodes.  Instead, we get a funny episode that serves its jokes well but falls short of what it could have been.
     Now that I got that small criticism out of the way, Holy Cow, that was a funny episode.  New Girl is quickly becoming the most quote filled episode on TV.  "You want to momma bird me the cookie?" is as totally absurd and totally hilarious a line as I could imagine hearing.  Other favorite lines of mine included, "You should take that off.  It's crazy," and "Did you guys watch porn together again?"  I could also use more Russian cracker ads, that whole bit was silly and would make a great joke to carry through the season.  But the genius of this show isn't just in its writing.  The physical humor is amazing as well.  Zooey's work in the scene where she is trying to model the car is probably the funniest thing broadcast all year.  It was something I could see Lucile Ball or Carol Burnett doing and I couldn't imagine those two legends making it any funnier.  I was on the floor laughing.
     It may not always know how to deal with the story lines, but New Girl certainly knows how to handle the funny and for that I give it another win, 2-0.