Baby Fish Mouth

At the behest of my amis de cinéma, Eric and Spencer, I'm going to do a quick overview of my favorite fall TV picks and what not. They limited theirs to quick reviews, and so I'll try and do the very same:

NEW SHOWS -

Modern Family - This is one of only two new shows I look forward to. The pilot had me almost on the floor laughing, and each episode since has been just as hilarious. And it has heart, which is crucial to a good, solid comedy.

Community - It's got Joel McHale, and it's wonderfully absurd. It too has heart, but it's a tad bit more cynical in its delivery, but I laugh consistently.

Glee - The music is fab-u-lous. The other bits? Not so much. Still, its appointment television (it's the other show I look forward to). I'm not a fan of the show's central conflicts, but it doesn't hurt the show too much.

The Good Wife - This show makes me want to be a lawyer. Not only are the cases compelling, but the central idea (disgraced politician's wife restarts her life as a junior associate in a law firm after her husband is sent to jail) drives the show to new heights. A must see.

FlashForward - I don't know about this one. I'm intrigued, for sure, but I don't ache for this show like I did for LOST in its first season. I think its still figuring itself out. My suggestion? Get David Goyer away from as many scripts as possible... And lets focus on less characters, please...

Cougar Town - I've only seen the pilot, and frankly, I was super creeped out. It got a full season pick-up so it must be doing well. I'll check it out once the back nine kick in. Here's hoping they remedy the creepy.

Cleveland Show - HATED the pilot. Haven't seen it since.

Eastwick - Desperate Housewives with magic. But boring magic. The guy playing the devil is good, but the women are dry stereotypes. Nothing exciting here.

RETURNING SHOWS -

Dollhouse - I'm officially bored with this show. After the supposedly game-changing "Epitaph One" episode, I expected a resurgence of energy in this show, but I see none of that. All we've gotten so far is Echo getting married, and nursing a baby. Uncool, Whedon... Uncool.

Grey's Anatomy - After an awkward season last year (but a pretty phenomenal finale), this show feels like it did in its second season. I hope it continues.

House - I like this show. It makes for a nice Monday eve.

Heroes - I broke up with this show after the abysmal season premiere. I did watch Bryan Fuller's recent (and well done) episode, so my interest is piqued as to where it's heading (quite the cliffhanger), but his departure still has me unsure.

The Office - This show is uneven for me. Season 2 is still where this show peaked. The Jim and Pam wedding was wonderful. I still enjoy it.

Parks and Recreation - I'm actually liking this more and more each week. I think they're hoping for a bit of The Office mixed with 30 Rock, as the show has become significantly more absurd. After the underwhelming first season, this is nice to see.

Fringe - I love this show. The mythology is fun, and its delightfully macabre. Yeah, it's not brilliant television, but I'm entertained, and I'm rarely bored.

Big Bang/HIMYM - Still great. Big Bang seems to get funnier each week.

The Wind in My Eye

LOST has a new ARG (Alternate Reality Game, for the uninitiated), and it's a weird one...

Each week or so, a new piece of art is revealed online, and available to buy, but the location of the website (its web address) is doled out through real-world clues and locations. It's kinda neat. Here are two of the very best (and subsequently very sold out) pieces of art:



You can find out more here:

Damon, Carlton and A Polar Bear

Idiot Control Now

I'm starting to not like watching movies.

Shocker, right? Here I am, a self-proclaimed film buff/lover/sycophant and I've suddenly lost my passion. It's sad, I know. About as sad as a clown losing his funny, or a lumberjack developing a chainsaw allergy.

I scroll my Netflix queues, and I find nothing that interests me. I know of three or four movies I'd like to see in theatres, but I'm too cheap to buy a ticket.

Movies have become disappointments. The critical darlings end up being too boring, obscure or inaccessible, and ultimately bring me down. The blockbusters get me going, but they're like a sugar rush: all energy, no nutrition. Occasionally (read: Rarely) I find a happy medium-- The Dark Knight, for instance, a film that floored me once and still floors me today. I continue to admire its pacing, its bravado, its audacity, and its depth. Rarely does something that pulpy become something that profound.

But most films are disappointments. Not in the "Oh, that wasn't what I expected" sort of way, but more in the "Oh, it's over, so now what" kind of way... I sense a deeper issue at hand, but let's not delve into that right now. Most of the time, I sense the futility of filmmaking when I watch a film. I see it as the short-lived box office success it will be, the millions of dollars on DVD it'll make, and the countless ads on TNT when it airs. Soon, any film I want to see will be reduced to something as common as reruns of Friends or Sex and the City. Ten years from now it'll be Bargain Bin fodder at Walmart and Blockbuster. So, why care? Why make the effort anymore?

I actually don't have an answer to that. You could flog reason after reason why movies are awesome my way, but believe me, I'm aware of them, so save your fingers the typing time and write something else. I'm just kinda pissed off. I'm tired of feeling this way about film. I'm tired of trying to find something that will enrich me AND entertain me, but that seems to be so impossible to find. Old movies, new movies, what have you. I feel like I've exhausted what's "Good" and all that's left is "Just Okay" or "Not a Chance". Or winners of the Palme d'Or...

The only solace I find is in television, where the game changes weekly, and the thrills are seemingly never ending. New shows every fall and returning shows refreshed with re-invigorated storylines and characters; a fresh start on familiar ground. It's exciting, and it's alive. I want to feel this for film again. I want to feel like cinema is this growing entity that is constantly getting better, as opposed to constantly proving me right. I don't feel like that. All I see is retread after retread, and all I feel is mixed emotions and loads of disappointment.

All in all, it sucks.

Sting, Debbie Reynolds and God...

This picture actually occured on my brother's Facebook Friends Suggestions page... Amazing...

Casen Face

- I'm writing this post from my email. I've been curious about this little feature for some time now, so here it is. I don't know about formatting, so this may look funky.

- My keyboard's been funky too. It was attacked by my nephew, and the spacebar got cracked (yo!). It now has a nice, hairline boo-boo going down the middle. It still works, but it makes a weird noise when I hit it. Also, and far more unexplainable, is my "j" key has become super duper sensitive. I touch it, barely, like this -- jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj -- and it just goes crazyjjjjjjjjjj. I noticed this yesterday when I was trying to type an email, and I kept typing superfluous j's everywhere... It confused me, and I jjjjjjjjjjjjj -- see! I just rested for like two seconds, on the the keys with the little nubbins on them, and it typed crazy j's! WHA!?!? Annoying.

- I've been playing more and more video games lately. Pathetic. I often convince myself that whenever I become addicted to anything, that Helen Mirren is also addicted to it. I can't help but think that she's not at all above those kind of things. Meryl Streep too. Is that weird?

- My over-a-year-in-the-works short film finally showed up in Provo this last week. It didn't go as well as I'd hoped. What did I learn? I'm not a sound mixer. That's all.

- Project Runway and Flipping Out are back on TV. Yeah, judge me all you want, but I can't resist those shows. They're among the three reality shows I watch (and I don't count anything on Food Network as reality), so don't get all feisty. Flipping Out is like a bad yet watchable sitcom, and Project Runway is like watching art students forced to make really cool art in 24 hours. Mad Men is also back. So all in all, pretty perfect, TV-wise.

- I had Kneaders in Utah, and it made me miss Provo food... Which trumps San Diego food, by the way. By far. It's probably the second thing I miss about Provo, the first thing being my friends and family. Sandwiches... *Drool*...

- This post is disappointing. I'm disappointed in it. My apologies.

Purity of Essence...

I think it's normal for film folk to question on a daily basis their career choices. We have picked something so chock full of uncertainty and without the promise of ANY career to speak of, so it's only natural, right?

Right now, at this moment in time, I hate film making. Right now, there is nothing more frustrating and maddening than the circus of inconsistency and mayhem that is film making. And, I think I hate it.

Details aren't important. They'd only do a disservice, actually. Suffice it to say, my choice of pursuing screenwriting must be kismet or written in the stars or whatever because I don't think I could have handled whoring myself out as a Set P.A., or making some bad Sundance hopeful thinking I'd hit it big with a seven-figure distribution deal with Fox Searchlight. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be happy believing my career as a director was meant to be, and "It'll happen!" being my mantra each and every time I wake up unemployed, poor and in the habit of dodging my landlord.

Anyway, I'm pissed. I'm tired. I'm being completely irrational. Who cares? Sure, screenwriting isn't any better, but at least I like it. At least I enjoy doing it, as opposed to the fallacy that is film making. Film making is like every bad group project you ever worked on in high school, where everyone acts all into it, but they really couldn't give a crap.

Or maybe that's not entirely true. My point is, I'm glad I know where I stand in the world of cinema. I'm glad I've figured this out now, and not later. Now, I can focus. I can breathe. But not yet. Not till after the 25th. Until then I hate film making, and all of its cousins and brothers and nephews. So until then, humor me, and don't write encouraging comments below...

Yours forever,
Habdash

A Look Into My Fridays...

A glimpse at things to come:

Single City...

I just couldn't take much more of that stretchy nonsense. It made my blog look gnarly, and I hate gnarly.

So, here's the vastly improved HadDash, complete with über-cool lowercase post titles, a little wider width, and a header that doesn't look like the picture ate the right portion of the border (yeah, you may have not noticed, but it was like nails on a chalkboard for me...)

I'd wager that the majority of you folks don't care, won't notice, or won't come back. That's fine. Whatever. Blogs are simply a means for vain people like myself to post things they think others will find fascinating. Whether or not people read them isn't much of a concern.

Yeah, not really...

It's not like I can magically produce twins and post adorable pictures of them... Or move to London, develop a totally legit swearing habit AND blog about raptors...

Or can I?

I'm pretty sure this was funnier in my head...

He Tinks He's A Whar-wulf...

Here's two bits of photographic awesome:

The Ocean Walker

Guess what?

I'm the guest writer for today (Friday) over at Daily Pre-Script-ion, a blog started by a few of my amigos, Spencer and Eric.








The blog is just like it says: two guys writing one page scripts everyday for a year, and they invited me to be their first guest writer. I feel honored. And touched. But mostly honored.

So, thank you Eric, for stroking my ego all the way up there in the San Fernando Valley... And thank you, Spencer, for not saying no when Eric asked me, because I know how much you despise me...........

I love you guys.

Enjoy.

Daily pre-Script-ion - Day Fourteen

P.S. - I'm towards the bottom of the page, but please read the others as well.

P.P.S. - You'll also notice that my script is longer than a page. That's because I broke the rules. But, that's what I am. A rule breaker. A rogue. Story of my life, right?

It's New To You...

We're no longer a fixed width blog here at the HabDash, so give me your thoughts on this new stretchy redesign...

gracias...

pm/pm...

For the past little bit, the convenience store chain, am/pm has had the slogan, "Too Much Good Stuff". Recently, I saw an ad of theirs that stated quite clearly that "You Can Never Have Too Much Good Stuff."

So...

- If am/pm is Too Much Good Stuff,
- And their current ads dictate that You can never have too much good stuff,
- Then doesn't that logically indicate that You can never have am/pm?

Ergo...
am/pm,
You've just been proof'd...

The Gold Violin

Thank you Dyna Moe. And AMC...

Mad Men Yourself

Whinging About

I failed to mention in my last post another good thing about this trip: seeing family. They've been great hosts, and good company, and it's always great to see them, even if I was constantly longing for a good spit-up in order to ease my nausea.

Old Gregg

I'm in Utah right now, or the Motherland as it might as well be known, and I'm not in the best of spirits. Since Wednesday, I've had a mild flu-like symptom bug of some kind, rendering me pretty useless. Naturally, I'm convinced it's that pig disease that's been so much a part of the pop culture zeitgeist these past couple of months, but I've googled the symptoms, and I should be fine.

I don't think I would mind too much if our trip didn't involve so much driving. So far, we've driven a least one hour every day since Wednesday, and that's frankly too much for this invalid. Couple that with two days in the (hot) sun, one at a very reflective lake (The Bear! Lake), and what you get is a very ruddy, flu-filled face that hurts when I smile. Or wince. Or raise my eyebrows suspiciously...

The best part, however, is that my little neph-ew, Craisin (né Casen) is with us, which has made my flu seem pretty inconsequential. The kid smiles all the time, even when he's half-asleep, and it just melts my feverish heart.

We also caught the newest Potter flick, which was great, but it was unfortunately showing at the worst movie theatre I've ever been to (thanks a million, Cache Valley!). If the cinder block walls (!) weren't enough, then how about cramped stadium seating? Or the shoddy sound system (someone needs a lesson in acoustics)? Or the woman sitting behind us who had obviously read the book, and insisted on telling her friend exactly what it all meant. And when I say "it all", I mean every plot point. To be fair, that last one technically doesn't count against the actual theatre, but still, it made it hard to enjoy the film, really, which is a strike in my book.

So, a summation:
Swine flu?
Driving
The Bear!
Babies
Harry Potter and the Half-Finished Movie Theatre
and finally, Burning Man-Face.

Overall? No fair, but it's been okay.

Jihaddy...

You wanna? Yes? Yes?! Check it...











White Men...

Everybody Betray Me.

My Xbox 360 died yesterday. The dreaded E74 error, in case you're taking notes. Microsoft has kindly agreed to fix it for free, so the poor Box is now on its way to Texas for a look-see. As for myself, and my constituents, we've resorted to mourning its temporary vacation. In light of it all, I will say that the silver lining is the hope that we will take advantage of its time away to rid ourselves of its addictive grasp. Maybe, perhaps, I'll actually get something done.

Oh, Hi Mark!

My latest running mix, featuring thirty-three minutes of continuous fitness favorites:

- Chaiyya Chaiyya Bollywood Joint* - Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi, featuring Punjabi MC

- Such Great Heights - The Postal Service

- Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings

- Let's Go To The Mall - Robin Sparkles

- FutureSex/LoveSound - Justin Timberlake

- Don't Say Nuthin' - The Roots

- Apocalypse Please - Muse

- New Skin - Incubus

*Video from the Bollywood film Dil Se. My version of the song is from Spike Lee's Inside Man. Similar, but not the same, but I LOVE that video, so, yeah...