Development Arrested

I waited a year-and-a-half after the series finale of Arrested Development premiered to finally watch it. I was in a state of serious denial. I wanted to know that there is always one new episode of AD I haven't seen. Naturally, by the time I reached the acceptance phase of my grief, my expectations were pretty high. I came out of this episode extremely disappointed declaring that not only was this the worst episode of Arrested Development but is not a good episode in general. Having taken a break from the show, I decided to re-access the episode.

First, Mitch Horowitz and crew had to cap off a storyline and mythology that is the comedy equivalent of Lost. And he did the best he can with a story that at times became contradictory and non-sensical (though still surprisingly coherent for its attempt at a complex plot in a sitcom format). In the previous episode, we discover that George Bluth was in fact a "patsy" and was too dumb to realize he was selling homes illegally in Iraq. (A genius bit has a homefill WMD in one of his Iraqi model homes). So the CIA exonerates him since he was a pawn in their spygame. With George Bluth off the hook, the show has gone full circle back to the pilot episode, this time with Michael crying instead of smiling because he was going to have to "spend the rest of his life with these people." Some other revelations made in this episode:

• GOB's other girlfriend he wanted to have a "Holy Trinity" with was in fact Ann. This was hinted to in the previous season's inner-beauty pagent, where as a judge GOB goes for the third place winner because first place winner is usually a snob and second place is usually "something weird like a scientist or Asian"
• We learn that Lucille I was the true mastermind of the Bluth Co.'s illegal dealings.
• Maebe, although being Lindsay's daughter, is not George Michael's cousin because Lindsay was adopted making her really 40 years old. This is referenced in the previous episode where Lucille refers to Lindsay as 40. The older cousin "Nelly" was not Justine Bateman, Franklin's prositute, nor is it Tobias ("isn't it fun to talk like this!") but was Lindsay.
• Annyong's (meaning hello in Korean) real name is "Hello." He obtains his revenge on the Lucille Bluth who years ago stole his father's Banana Stand idea and deported him to the DMZ in Korea where his business suffered.

All in all, not a bad way to rap the series. And best of all "on the epilogue for Arrested Development" the show goes delightfully meta with Ron Howard saying the show's idea would work better as a movie which appears to becoming true.

Despite cramming in a season's worth of plot lines into one episode there are still some endearing gags/jokes:

• Reoccurring gag of Michael waking up to someone in his bed (George Michael, Tobias, Lindsay, George Sr.).
• Buster overcoming his second biggest fear.
• Lucille referring to Switwell's alpecia as "Alpaca." Later we learn his eco-friendly wig is made of Alpaca.
• An incredibly intricate gag involving a scene from the movie Risky Business.

In conclusion, a pretty good episode that ended the greatest. show. ever.

Things the Bluth Family Calls Michael

• "You came for me, Michael ... or should I say Robot ... I'm sorry if you don't have enough RAM but there is such thing as brotherly love." GOB Bluth
• "He's a robot!" Buster Bluth, as his prosthetic hand falls off
• "The boy who couldn't cry..." GOB Bluth
• "Cause he's a chicken! Coo Coo Ka Cha! Coo Coo Ka Cha!" "Michael and women! A Doodle-doo-da-doo! A Doodle-doo-da-doo!" "I was just telling him that! Ka-cha! Ka-cha!"
• "Cause all the women you date are dogs!" GOB
• "You're my third least favorite child" "I can live with that"
  

The GOP's Winning Issue

The Republican Congress has introduced a new "fight them there so we don't fight them here" winning tagline: "find more, use less." Or as Georgian senator Johnny Issackson said about the off shore drilling issue, (roughly) "It's like we're starvin' and sittin' on a ham sandwich! Ham sandwich Chris!" I am no econ expert, but this doesn't sound like a free market propsoal. If you introduce more supply, the public will consume more (especially if it is oil). The GOP is more inclined towards voluntary conservation than any regulation. Let the free market control global warming! Anyway, assuming the GOP was to push some sort of conservation measure I seriously doubt it would bring gas prices down at all even with drilling off shore.

A decade from now when we get this new supply of oil, are we planning on hoarding it for our selves? Right now, we consume 25% of the world's oil yet produce only 2% of it. Drilling off shore will make us far from energy independent. Do you think OPEC, the ultimate cartel, will want to export to us at low, low Walmart prices while India and China are demanding it more? If we plan on having an open world market for our new oil ventures, I assume our increased output will be negiblle relative to the world wide output (and the increased demand from third world nations).

So yet again the GOP tries to appeal to our dumber, baser instincts. With gay marraige being a dead issue at the ballots, the Bush tax cuts/economic policy leaving the nation in recession, and a public growing increasingly detached from the Wars on Terror and Iraq, this is the last, best hope for McCain. Hopefully, as Bush and The Who say, we won't be fooled agian.

TDK: Quick thoughts, no spoilers

First, I will state Christopher Nolan has made a near perfect movie and hands down created the best super hero movie; this guy can do no wrong. Now, to the problems. TDK is no Brett Ratner joint, Nolan squeezes in substance: political and social commentary from the war on terror and wire-tapping to human nature and the classic good vs. evil/nature of evil that he explored somewhat in Batman Begins. Unfortunately, Nolan perhaps overdoes it, without exploring any topic with much clarity. This surfaces in the film with "with great power comes great responsibility"esque dialogue. I would have wanted a bit more subtlety, if anything, TDK is, at times, overly bombastic and and melodramatic. In any other movie, certain plot elements and dialogue in TDK would be considered cheesy or campy. It is one of those movies that has a major flaw which can be ignored because it is so spectacular in every other way (The Fountain).

Finally, I don't know if it's just me, but as in Batman Begins, I think Christian Bale overplays The Batman (Eckhert does this too somewhat as The Harvey Dent). I know this is a darker Batman, but your voice doesn't need to go from normal as Bruce Wayne to three octaves lower and grating as The Batman. It reminded me of an episode of 30 Rock where Tina Fey jokes on the baritone voices of Will Arnett and Alex Baldwin saying that they should, in a low voice, "have a competition talking like this." I prefer Michael Keaton's melancholy portrayal of The Batman.
And Heath Ledger gave a DDL:TWBB level performance. His performance is too good; it distracts from everything else.

Oh yeah, Watchmen trailer premiered! I was surprised that at my midnight (12:30) screening with predominantly nerdy, teenage boys there was only one cheer. I need to read this again. Looks like the film is in good hands (though I wouoldn't call Snyder a "visionary" director).

Why so serious?

Republican Linguistics

So Massachusetts has decided to grant marriage licenses for couples whose marriages may not be accepted in other states. This law dates from almost a hundred years ago when it was created for the purposes of interracial marriage. Massachusetts probably saw this law as irrelevant for decades until a new form of prejudice surfaced in the form of banning gay marriage. Anyway, my reason for this post is from listening to NPR today as they referred to an anti-gay marriage speaker as pro-family values and the pro-gay marriage individual as... pro-gay marriage. Again, the right wing has won the word game. As I indicated, someone of the position anti-gay marriage should be referred to as such and not pro-family values. "Pro-family" values implies that the other side is anti-family values (the ultimate irony of this being that gay marriage promotes family values).
This is the same case with pro-choice vs. pro-life. Pro-choice implies the other side is anti-choice, which they are and they cannot dispute that point. Pro-life implies the other side is anti-life. There are two problems with this. The first being a pro-choice individual may not believe abortion is ethical but still thinks it is not their prerogative to choose for other people. Second, it allows the right wing to win the word game of calling a fetus, embryo, or zygote a life. I am pro-life, but what I define as life is different from the right wing. Or as George Carlin would say (alot better than me), why do we call it abortion for humans and for chickens an omlette?
In conclusion, the culture wars should be stated as thus: pro-gay marriage vs. anti-gay marriage & pro-choice vs. anti-choice.
Also, what is the deal with North Dakota (or is it South? should these two states really be granted four senators? Lets combine them, I don't need to know both the capitols of Bismark and Pierre(?))?. Doctors there are being forced to tell women seeking an abortion that the embryo/fetus inside them is a life that has constitutional rights (not true) and that women who have abortions are at a higher risk for suicide (definitely not true). Then they make the woman sign a contract indicating they understood this and still want to have the abortion. Hopefully, the supreme court will knock this down eventually for the sole reason that it forces doctors to give scientifically false information to their patients.

Here is The Best of list of the Bush adminstration's Rovian wordspeak:

• Axis of Evil
• War on Terror
• Compassionate Conservatism
• Smoking gun ... mushroom cloud
• Flip-flopper
• 'folks
• The Decider
• and my favorite, Islamo-fascism (this one always felt forced)

Radiohead's Latest Music Video

Radiohead seems to be one of the few artists still pushing the bounds of the music video format. Here is another impressive music video filmed with lasers. And, of course, Google is sponsoring it. The making-of shows footage of Thom Yorke.

Radiohead used computer rendering for Pyramid Song on Amnesiac, and my personal favorite, Go To Sleep from Hail to the Thief. CGI Thom Yorke is almost better than real Thom Yorke (or laser Thom Yorke):

Movie News

Noooooo! Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are has been indefintely delayed. One part of this article gave me a LOL: "The script got good early reviews. But for months the Web has been pulsing with rumors and in-depth accounts that when Jonze had a research screening last December, kids in the audience were crying and fleeing the theater--not exactly the reaction the studio had hoped for."
Stupid kids ruin everything (at least they saw WALL-E, though they rather see Shrek IV). They also hit the nail on the head describing Chris Columbus as a "paint by the numbers" director. Also, who greenlit Meet Dave (which didn't even crack the top ten). Was the pitch "lets make Pluto Nash again"?

Green Porno

http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno

The best is the bee skit. You have to admit Isabella Rossellini has range doing this and slap-stick on 30 Rock. I am also convinced that on the set of Blue Velvet, she may have been the strangest person there.

New Digital Camera

I got a fancy new digital camera for graduation/birthday (tanks sisters). Here are some of my more picturesque shots with heavy use of the macro feature. All photos were taken in Newport, RI along their Cliff Walk.

 

 

 

 

Spore Creature

 

This is my Spore creature. I first envisioned this creature in a 7th grade science assignment where we were to imagine how intelligent design could create new species through magic.

Conservative Talk Radio

I was listening to Glen Beck today, and he was somehow relating the Declaration of Independence to permitting off-shore drilling. At one point, he seemed to be suggesting we overthrow the government so we can drill (as the founding fathers intended). I wasn't really getting his argument other than off-shore drilling = patriotic and ban on off-shore drilling = King George.
On a positive note, I listened to Neil Boortz for the first time and was shocked to discover he is somewhat reasonable. Before I knew it was him, I thought it was Air America resurrected. Boortz was in favor of gay marriage (or at least indifferent) saying it would have not affect his marriage or anyone elses in any way. Then, he went on to say how right wing evangelicals have corrupted and ruined the GOP. And he didn't go all Bill "F*ck it, lets do it live!" O' Reilly on callers who disagreed with him. This experience has taught me to Matthew 7:1 all conservative shock jocks if I have not listened to them first-hand.

Why Robots are Inherently Depressing with references

Many of these are also true for any non-human sentient beings (aliens, animals, the undead)
1. They can live forever and outlast humanity. (A.I., WALL-E)
2. They can be damaged/disfigured without pain. (A.I., Alien(s))
3. They can become stuck in infinite, meaningless loops. (A.I., WALL-E)
4. They do not know they are robots. (A.I., Blade Runner, Battlestar Galatica)
5. They readily sacrifice themselves to protect humans/act benevolently without reward. (WALL-E, The Iron Giant, Terminator 2,3, Aliens, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Star Trek)
6. They are designed to do one thing. (WALL-E, A.I., Terminator, ... basically all robots)
7. They are created for their utility and are readily disposable. (WALL-E, A.I., ... again, basically all robots)
8. They do not understand the fragility of living beings and harm those they love. (A.I., The Iron Giant)
9. They make us question the uniqueness of human consciousness/emotion. (A.I., Blade Runner)
10. Their love is real but they are not. (A.I., WALL-E)
11. They can be easily reset losing their personality/soul. (WALL-E)
12. Their eyes are glazed over and look dead inside. (A.I., WALL-E)
13. They can lose their free-will. (WALL-E)
14. Sometimes they cause the apocalypse and/or turn against us. (I, Robot, The Matrix, Terminator, WALL-E, Battlestar Galatica, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
15. They die very slowly. (A.I.)

Winner: WALL-E

Thanks for post idea V.

Top 10 Films of 2007 Reloaded

Now I believe I can make a completely informed decision on the best films of 2007 (excluding some noted documentaries and foreign films). Sweeney Todd I decided needed a significant drop in the list. And Southland Tales, how you disappointed me/was exactly what I expected.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Atonement
3. No Country for Old Men
4. The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
5. No End in Sight
6. Michael Clayton
7. Ratatouille
8. Sicko
9. 3:10 to Yuma
10. Sweeney Todd

Honorable Mentions: I'm Not There, The Darjeeling Limited, Zodiac

Early pick for 2008: WALL-E (actually, I will bet with 95% certainty this is the best of the year)

Dream Summer Job

Driving around with the Google Streets View crew. All you do is drive around in a Prius every possible street you can. It would be cool seeing places you have never seen before. Plus, the smug feeling you must get for working for Google can't hurt.

Time Distortion

Chronotopic Anamorphosis from Marginalia Project on Vimeo.

Without CGI