Thursday, June 30, 2016

TV SHOWS PEOPLE OBSESS OVER & WHAT I THINK OF THEM:


Thanks to social media, I get to watch people on a list named “Friends,” most of whom I’ve never met and likely never will, talk about the stuff they’re into on a sometimes second-by-second basis. As a result, I have noticed that even those people that pride themselves on being “different” and “weird” usually tend to be just as sheep-like in their tastes as the supposed mainstream they look down upon.  It’s been a rude awakening for me, especially considering how I’ve been forced to draw the sad conclusion that I have only a little more in common with them than I do with those who consider my interests bizarre or lacking in merit of one type of another.

So, most of the television shows these people are into get discussed and drooled over on a constant. Below is a list of some of those shows and how I feel about them:

Game of Thrones- It started out mildly interesting in its first season until one of the two only interesting characters got killed off. By season two, I realized I not only didn’t care what was happening, but what was happening was little more than exploitative melodrama.

The Walking Dead- As far as I’m concerned, there are two versions of this show: The brilliant and riveting six-episode first season led by Frank Darabont, and the slow descent into pointlessness, abject stupidity, and formulaic claptrap of the later seasons. Guess which one I liked?

Orange is the New Black- I actually heard a radio interview with the woman whose actual life story inspired this show, and her apparent cluelessness intrigued me. Sadly, after three or four episodes, I found myself bored, annoyed and not at all invested.

The Big Bang Theory- I’ve written so much about this geek culture minstrel show that at this point it almost feels self-indulgent. Bad writing, terrible actors with nearly zero comic timing and shoe-horned geek pop culture references make this show pure torture to try and sit through.

Castle- I used to like Nathan Fillion. And I don’t blame him for jumping at his own major ntwork series, but this one just happened to be a combination of every show I’ve ever hated. All the clichés are there, from the would-be witty dialogue, the clunky sexual innuendo, the candy-ass mysteries, the implausible inclusion of a character who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near police work (“The Mentalist,” anyone?) and a chemistry-free casting. So glad to see this one go.

Scandal- Shonda Rhimes excels at juvenile, tittering shows about the idea of sex from the perspective of middle school age children, so it’s no surprise that this ludicrous foray into silliness is equal parts unbelievable plots and screwing.

 

I know there are more but those are the main ones I’m constantly reading about. Next up, a list of show I like that everybody seems to hate~

 

Monday, June 13, 2016

Thoughts on the Orlando Massacre.

I could offer my observations and opinions on what happened in Orlando when  a murderer slaughtered fifty human beings at a nightclub and wounded at least fifty-three more in the name of  his twisted take on religion combined with homophobia taken to its worst extreme. But that would all be theoretical, despite the well-intentioned approach. Instead, I thought I'd repost something one of my bosses wrote because it's eloquent, well-written and, most importantly, it's based on the viewpoint of someone who can relate:



Wednesday, June 8, 2016

AN OVERLOOKED POSITIVE REVIEW OF "FLOORBOARDS"

Every so often, my Blogger stats show me that an older post has been viewed, prompting me to click on it and see what I wrote. In this case, it was a post from August of 2014 when the Parsek Inc. anthology "Parch" was released. At the time, there was only one reader review, which was positive, but I wasn't mentioned in it. Now that I've taken a second look, I see another review that did mention me and it was also positive.




Click here for the  review.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Shane Black on Bowing to Fandom Pressure.

I've always admired Shane Black as a screenwriter ever since "Lethal Weapon" and "The Monster Squad," and recently I've come to admire him as a director as well. I was not one of those who felt some bizarre and entitled sense of betrayal because he dared alter a popular Marvel villain in the name of actual surprises and creativity.

So, in his honor as a  show of solidarity from a guy he's never heard of and certainly doesn't need as a supporter, I present the following Shane Black quote as something all creatives and supposed fans should abide by:

 “The minute you start to govern your creative impulses based on anticipation of someone else's response or their expectations then you're going to fail. "
 
 


2 Migraine-inducingly Moronic Posts

 No commentary, no attempts to rationalize. Just gaze, if you dare, on the stupid!