Music: Dead Can Dance - A Passage in Time (1991)
Dead Can Dance is one of few artists that can execute a mix of differing styles well. Instrumentals, Arias, Old World folk, Native/Tribal, and Contemporary New Wave are the genres I can identify from their work. And while I listen to songs from Spiritchaser more often, I have a soft spot for this compilation-style album. There's a story behind that, but suffice it to say that it was my (and North America's) first exposure to the Australian band.
A Passage in Time combines a number of their early songs and adds two new ones, providing a better mix of musical styles than any single album and making this the best album I've heard to show off Dead Can Dance's unusual style. I understand they've released some newer compilations, but I haven't yet had the pleasure.
(In an effort to keep this blog brief, I'll stop there.)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Issue 3.2: Television: Nowhere Man/Marker/Legend (1995)
When Fox made it clear that it was possible to expand the number of networks on American television beyond the "Big Three", United Television and Paramount tried to do the same. UPN started out with a few interesting shows and headlined their second year with a group of shows that were "Dramatically Different".
Nowhere Man (1995)
One of those shows was Nowhere Man, in which Bruce Greenwood's character has taken a photograph for is art studio that basically ruined his life. First it goes missing, then his best friend is killed and his wife claims she doesn't know who he is. Bruce tries to make sense of it all when he realizes the government "officials" are after the negatives and are going to kill him once they get them. He mails himself copies of the photograph to various places around the country and tries to unravel the mysteries found in that picture to help keep his sanity and prove his own existence after having his life become "erased".
This was an interesting setup in the era of the X-Files when the underlying narrative of a show could be stretched and a mystery slowly revealed. Unfortunately, the show didn't last and ended so abruptly that I didn't know what had happened until I decided to write this article (I love Wikipedia).
Marker (1995)
Marker was another show that had an interesting premise. A man (played by Richard Grieco) who thought his father wasn't worth knowing is bequeathed responsibility to cover his father's karmic debt. Instead of being upset about being saddled with another man's favors, he decides to learn more about his parent through his father's "markers" -- special coins given to those who helped the protaganist's father in the past. Filmed in Hawaii, the show had a tropical look and an open-ended premise.
Legend (1995)
Legend was an action-comedy set in the American Wild West in which Richard Dean Anderson plays a ne'er-do-well, hard-drinking writer (Ernest Pratt) who is constantly mistaken for the heroic, tee-totalling, goody two-shoes character he writes about (Nicodemus Legend) in the first-person, by those who want him to save the day. It's a good thing it didn't last, or else we would not have a solid Kevin Bacon-style connection between Anderson's follow-up series StarGate SG-1 and Star Trek in the person of John deLancie, who plays Legend's partner and personal inventor in the style of The Green Hornet's Kato, James Bond's Q, or James West's (Wild, Wild West) Artemis.
Originally I was going to mention Two and VR5, but decided to stick to UPN shows. As such, I'll probably do another trio of short subjects in order to highlight these (occasionally deservedly) short-lived shows. Also, in researching certain details, I came across a few UPN shows I would have liked to have seen more of before their demise like The Burning Zone, The Sentinel and Jake 2.0.
Nowhere Man (1995)
One of those shows was Nowhere Man, in which Bruce Greenwood's character has taken a photograph for is art studio that basically ruined his life. First it goes missing, then his best friend is killed and his wife claims she doesn't know who he is. Bruce tries to make sense of it all when he realizes the government "officials" are after the negatives and are going to kill him once they get them. He mails himself copies of the photograph to various places around the country and tries to unravel the mysteries found in that picture to help keep his sanity and prove his own existence after having his life become "erased".
This was an interesting setup in the era of the X-Files when the underlying narrative of a show could be stretched and a mystery slowly revealed. Unfortunately, the show didn't last and ended so abruptly that I didn't know what had happened until I decided to write this article (I love Wikipedia).
Marker (1995)
Marker was another show that had an interesting premise. A man (played by Richard Grieco) who thought his father wasn't worth knowing is bequeathed responsibility to cover his father's karmic debt. Instead of being upset about being saddled with another man's favors, he decides to learn more about his parent through his father's "markers" -- special coins given to those who helped the protaganist's father in the past. Filmed in Hawaii, the show had a tropical look and an open-ended premise.
Legend (1995)
Legend was an action-comedy set in the American Wild West in which Richard Dean Anderson plays a ne'er-do-well, hard-drinking writer (Ernest Pratt) who is constantly mistaken for the heroic, tee-totalling, goody two-shoes character he writes about (Nicodemus Legend) in the first-person, by those who want him to save the day. It's a good thing it didn't last, or else we would not have a solid Kevin Bacon-style connection between Anderson's follow-up series StarGate SG-1 and Star Trek in the person of John deLancie, who plays Legend's partner and personal inventor in the style of The Green Hornet's Kato, James Bond's Q, or James West's (Wild, Wild West) Artemis.
Originally I was going to mention Two and VR5, but decided to stick to UPN shows. As such, I'll probably do another trio of short subjects in order to highlight these (occasionally deservedly) short-lived shows. Also, in researching certain details, I came across a few UPN shows I would have liked to have seen more of before their demise like The Burning Zone, The Sentinel and Jake 2.0.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Issue 3.1: Movie: Serenity (2005)
This week, we'll do this differently. I'm going to do a different category each day and a roundup article once a week. I am also including actual videos whenever possible.
Serenity (2005)
US Trailer
European Trailer
There are those who swear by the series Firefly, but I must be honest. I only managed to watch a couple of episodes and was confused. Characters would show up to whom I had not yet been introduced. Later, I found out that the show was being broadcast out of order and at different times each week. It was no wonder I couldn't keep up. But I like Joss Whedon's work (see: Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and was very happy to see that that a movie was being made.
I suppose some background is required: "Firefly" is the class of vessel flown by Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds, a former revolutionary soldier who was on the losing side of a civil war which ended with the Battle of Serenity. The (still) oppressive government is made up of remnants of American and Chinese interests responsible for transplanting humanity to an expansive star system with many terraformed and livable, if somewhat underdeveloped planets, giving the show a frontiersman "Space Western" feel. Reynolds and his mercenary crew eke out a living on the wrong side of the law on the ship named after that fateful battle. The series begins when two fugitives join the crew -- a doctor and his mentally unstable and slightly psychic sister. The movie finally reveals the reasons young River Tam is of such high interest to the government. I won't give it away here, but suffice it to say that it would have been fun to find out little by little in the series rather than all at once in the movie.
Not since Star Trek has a cancelled television series been made into a movie and look how that turned out (wink wink). Firefly had potential, and the fact that there is a movie meant good things. But just in case Serenity was the last hurrah for the show, I suppose it was smart of Whedon to tie up loose ends in the movie.
If I had the tech savvy, I'd show you the first fifteen minutes of the movie as it nicely introduces the plot as well as how bad-assed The Operative (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor who also played in Four Brothers, Dirty Pretty Things, and 2012 in VERY different roles)) is.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Issue 2: Growing Pains
Welcome back, everybody. I'm glad so many of you followed up. In the interest of making this experience better, I will be incorporating links and -- if I can manage it -- embedded video. I suggest right-clicking any links and choosing "Open in another tab/window" so you don't lose track of this page. These additions will be added retroactively as time permits. Now, on to the show!
Overview:
Movie: CONfidence (2003)
TV: Babylon 5 (1993-1998)
Music: Fresh Aire III - Mannheim Steamroller (1979)
Game: Colony Wars by Psygnosis (1997)
Book: One For the Money by Janet Evanovich (1994)
Web: Zero Punctuation on escapistmagazine.com (~2007-present)
Special - Radio: Musical Starstreams (1981-present)
---------------------------
Movie: CONfidence (2003)
Trailer 2:08
Intro 1:55
Music 2:25
Another Musical example 0:30
CONfidence is a slick film noir style heist movie that is anything but noir. This colorful movie features a solid cast of then-nearly-unknowns and the scene-stealing Dustin Hoffman in a role intended for a burly, intimidating black man. (Hoffman manages to be intimidating in his own way.) Jake Vig is a grifter who provides the voiceover and is the leader of the crew. Told in flashback, he describes how confidence is not only what a grifter instills in the mark but is also a quality the grifter must possess to be successful. This confidence is shaken twice: once when a retaliatory attack puts the plot in motion and later when the main job gets derailed. It doesn't pay to lose one's confidence! (I took some liberties there, but if I said too much, it might ruin the movie. You'll understand later.) If you like heist movies, femme fatales, Rachel Weisz, Ed Burns, Andy Garcia, Paul Giamotti, and/or great music, check this out!
-----------------
TV: Babylon 5 (1993-1998)
Season 1 Intro
Babylon 5 is a science fiction series that takes place on and around the fifth of the Babylon space stations. Initially intended to be a sort of five-mile long "U.N. to the stars" for the five major civilizations, galactic events conspire to turn it into much more than anyone could have known. The series was conceived to be presented in five seasons from the beginning: a bold and ambitious concept at the time, and never in my opinion has this long-form concept been better executed by any other television series. The show has also been lauded for what was then cutting edge special effects never before seen on the small screen. Creator J. Michael Straczynski wrote most of the individual episode scripts and overall crafted the show in such a way as to allow for unexpected casting changes and premature cancellation when a fifth season had not been assured.
Hero worship aside, the show stands on its own merits, providing coherent single episode story arcs, season-long arcs and of course the series-long arc that bring the whole thing together. It's gritty, it's messy and it makes you think. If you love space operas and you've already seen everything Star Wars, Star Trek, and Stargate have to offer, Babylon 5 should be right alongside these sci-fi luminaries.
----------------------------------
Music: Fresh Aire III - Mannheim Steamroller (1979)
The Sky
Chip Davis created the American Gramaphone recording label primarily to publish the eclectic music of his own musical group Mannheim Steamroller. I think that's just awesome -- a case of putting one's money where one's mouth is. The first Fresh Aire album debuted in 1975, some ten to fifteen years before this style of music became popular, placing Mr. Davis in the category "Ahead of His Time." Since then, Mannheim Steamroller has won a Grammy for the seventh (of eight) Fresh Aire album and become quite popular due to their stellar Christmas albums each of which has gone gold, platinum or multi-platinum. And that's why I'm highlighting one of their earlier works.
Fresh Aire III in particular is the "Summer" album (I-IV were seasonally themed) and has some of my favorite Mannheim Steamroller songs on it: "The Sky", "Morning", "The Cricket" and "Toccata". This is not to say that the other seven Fresh Aire albums or the other songs on this one aren't great, it's just that this album has so many memorable tunes together.
------------------------------
Game: Colony Wars by Psygnosis (1997)
Introduction (and no, it's not James Earl Jones)
In the Colony Wars series, you play as a fighter pilot during a civil war between the Empire of Earth and the League of Free Worlds. In the first and possibly best installment, you fight for the League of Free Worlds against the tyranny of the Imperial Navy. The second game puts you in the seat of a Navy pilot struggling against the traitorous League in a different era. In the third and final game, you are a mercenary trying to survive amidst the warfare. Usually, the good guys and bad guys are clear-cut, but by putting the player on different sides of the centuries-long conflict, Psygnosis grants less-biased perspective to those who play all three games.
These games (the first two at least) are worth mention because of their relatively unique branching mission structure. Colony Wars was the first game I ever played that allowed the player to fail a mission and yet continue the story. For instance, if you fail to knock out an Imperial Communications Relay in one early mission, your next mission (Protect the Transports) will be more difficult due to the extra reinforcements the Navy will be able to call in. Colony Wars also provides a then-unprecedented level of background information on every planet, moon, spaceship, and colony in the vast universe of the game right down to major exports and dates of colonization. Many log entries are accompanied by audio files, also nearly-unheard of in that generation and still rarely seen today. Couple that excellent presentation with the best and most engaging space dogfighting I've ever had the pleasure to play and you have a game that deserves to be remade!
------------------------------------
Book: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich (1994)
Potential casting choices (selected by a YouTuber before the movie was made)
A Film by Borders
This one's a two-fer! The rights to turn this book into a movie were sold years ago, but the movie only just got made and will be released this summer. With any luck, One for the Money won't be the last movie to be made. Janet Evanovich's nearly-cartoonish tales of Stephanie Plum are sometimes considered mysteries, but Ms. Plum is not a sleuth. She is a bond enforcement agent; a bad one. Now, before you start conjuring up images of Dog: the Bounty Hunter, you should know that Stephanie hates guns, dresses casually and often fails to bring a set of cuffs with her. She never planned to be a bail enforcer; she just didn't want to settle for a dull job working at the local button factory. What she does have is a knack for getting neck deep in the most dangerous situations her normally sleepy suburb has to offer, and then getting out of it. There are any number of colorful characters, and situations she's gotten into (including all the cars she's managed to accidentally destroy) that I might gush about at length, but suffice it to say the books are GOOD, and either narrator for the books on tape are excellent at keeping the larger than life characterizations down to earth.
-------------------------------------
Web: Zero Punctuation on escapistmagazine.com (2007-present)
Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw manages to scathingly review video games without taking a breath on his weekly video at escapistmagazine.com. He uses cartoon imagery to illustrate (or provide hilarious counterpoints to) his opinions. Fair warning, though: Zero Punctuation often has NSFW material, though the british slang and/or vulgarities might not be recognized as such right away. Regardless, ZP videos are far too funny (and accurate) to miss.
-----------------------------------------
Special - Radio: Musical Starstreams
I'd like to think that this program is still on the air somewhere, but ever since Clear Channel Communications allegedly threw a corporate tantrum and fired everyone at WNUA-95.5 (changing the station's format from Smooth Jazz/R & B to Spanish Pop), there hasn't been anyplace to hear this show in the Chicagoland area outside of the internet (www.starstreams.com). New Age, Ambient, Trip Hop, Electronica, Chill, whatever you want to call the myriad styles available on the program, Forest (the host) had a decidedly laid-back style that perfectly fit the 10pm-midnight slot he enjoyed in WNUA's heyday. Smooth Jazz, or rather Smooth Adult Contemporary still lives in Chicago at WLFM-LP 87.7, but WNUA's early New Age format is no more.
-----------------------------
Well that's that, but I wonder if I shouldn't post these daily, then have a weekly roundup... That would alleviate the WALL OF TEXT problem I see developing.
Overview:
Movie: CONfidence (2003)
TV: Babylon 5 (1993-1998)
Music: Fresh Aire III - Mannheim Steamroller (1979)
Game: Colony Wars by Psygnosis (1997)
Book: One For the Money by Janet Evanovich (1994)
Web: Zero Punctuation on escapistmagazine.com (~2007-present)
Special - Radio: Musical Starstreams (1981-present)
---------------------------
Movie: CONfidence (2003)
Trailer 2:08
Intro 1:55
Music 2:25
Another Musical example 0:30
CONfidence is a slick film noir style heist movie that is anything but noir. This colorful movie features a solid cast of then-nearly-unknowns and the scene-stealing Dustin Hoffman in a role intended for a burly, intimidating black man. (Hoffman manages to be intimidating in his own way.) Jake Vig is a grifter who provides the voiceover and is the leader of the crew. Told in flashback, he describes how confidence is not only what a grifter instills in the mark but is also a quality the grifter must possess to be successful. This confidence is shaken twice: once when a retaliatory attack puts the plot in motion and later when the main job gets derailed. It doesn't pay to lose one's confidence! (I took some liberties there, but if I said too much, it might ruin the movie. You'll understand later.) If you like heist movies, femme fatales, Rachel Weisz, Ed Burns, Andy Garcia, Paul Giamotti, and/or great music, check this out!
-----------------
TV: Babylon 5 (1993-1998)
Season 1 Intro
Babylon 5 is a science fiction series that takes place on and around the fifth of the Babylon space stations. Initially intended to be a sort of five-mile long "U.N. to the stars" for the five major civilizations, galactic events conspire to turn it into much more than anyone could have known. The series was conceived to be presented in five seasons from the beginning: a bold and ambitious concept at the time, and never in my opinion has this long-form concept been better executed by any other television series. The show has also been lauded for what was then cutting edge special effects never before seen on the small screen. Creator J. Michael Straczynski wrote most of the individual episode scripts and overall crafted the show in such a way as to allow for unexpected casting changes and premature cancellation when a fifth season had not been assured.
Hero worship aside, the show stands on its own merits, providing coherent single episode story arcs, season-long arcs and of course the series-long arc that bring the whole thing together. It's gritty, it's messy and it makes you think. If you love space operas and you've already seen everything Star Wars, Star Trek, and Stargate have to offer, Babylon 5 should be right alongside these sci-fi luminaries.
----------------------------------
Music: Fresh Aire III - Mannheim Steamroller (1979)
The Sky
Chip Davis created the American Gramaphone recording label primarily to publish the eclectic music of his own musical group Mannheim Steamroller. I think that's just awesome -- a case of putting one's money where one's mouth is. The first Fresh Aire album debuted in 1975, some ten to fifteen years before this style of music became popular, placing Mr. Davis in the category "Ahead of His Time." Since then, Mannheim Steamroller has won a Grammy for the seventh (of eight) Fresh Aire album and become quite popular due to their stellar Christmas albums each of which has gone gold, platinum or multi-platinum. And that's why I'm highlighting one of their earlier works.
Fresh Aire III in particular is the "Summer" album (I-IV were seasonally themed) and has some of my favorite Mannheim Steamroller songs on it: "The Sky", "Morning", "The Cricket" and "Toccata". This is not to say that the other seven Fresh Aire albums or the other songs on this one aren't great, it's just that this album has so many memorable tunes together.
------------------------------
Game: Colony Wars by Psygnosis (1997)
Introduction (and no, it's not James Earl Jones)
In the Colony Wars series, you play as a fighter pilot during a civil war between the Empire of Earth and the League of Free Worlds. In the first and possibly best installment, you fight for the League of Free Worlds against the tyranny of the Imperial Navy. The second game puts you in the seat of a Navy pilot struggling against the traitorous League in a different era. In the third and final game, you are a mercenary trying to survive amidst the warfare. Usually, the good guys and bad guys are clear-cut, but by putting the player on different sides of the centuries-long conflict, Psygnosis grants less-biased perspective to those who play all three games.
These games (the first two at least) are worth mention because of their relatively unique branching mission structure. Colony Wars was the first game I ever played that allowed the player to fail a mission and yet continue the story. For instance, if you fail to knock out an Imperial Communications Relay in one early mission, your next mission (Protect the Transports) will be more difficult due to the extra reinforcements the Navy will be able to call in. Colony Wars also provides a then-unprecedented level of background information on every planet, moon, spaceship, and colony in the vast universe of the game right down to major exports and dates of colonization. Many log entries are accompanied by audio files, also nearly-unheard of in that generation and still rarely seen today. Couple that excellent presentation with the best and most engaging space dogfighting I've ever had the pleasure to play and you have a game that deserves to be remade!
------------------------------------
Book: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich (1994)
Potential casting choices (selected by a YouTuber before the movie was made)
A Film by Borders
This one's a two-fer! The rights to turn this book into a movie were sold years ago, but the movie only just got made and will be released this summer. With any luck, One for the Money won't be the last movie to be made. Janet Evanovich's nearly-cartoonish tales of Stephanie Plum are sometimes considered mysteries, but Ms. Plum is not a sleuth. She is a bond enforcement agent; a bad one. Now, before you start conjuring up images of Dog: the Bounty Hunter, you should know that Stephanie hates guns, dresses casually and often fails to bring a set of cuffs with her. She never planned to be a bail enforcer; she just didn't want to settle for a dull job working at the local button factory. What she does have is a knack for getting neck deep in the most dangerous situations her normally sleepy suburb has to offer, and then getting out of it. There are any number of colorful characters, and situations she's gotten into (including all the cars she's managed to accidentally destroy) that I might gush about at length, but suffice it to say the books are GOOD, and either narrator for the books on tape are excellent at keeping the larger than life characterizations down to earth.
-------------------------------------
Web: Zero Punctuation on escapistmagazine.com (2007-present)
Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw manages to scathingly review video games without taking a breath on his weekly video at escapistmagazine.com. He uses cartoon imagery to illustrate (or provide hilarious counterpoints to) his opinions. Fair warning, though: Zero Punctuation often has NSFW material, though the british slang and/or vulgarities might not be recognized as such right away. Regardless, ZP videos are far too funny (and accurate) to miss.
-----------------------------------------
Special - Radio: Musical Starstreams
I'd like to think that this program is still on the air somewhere, but ever since Clear Channel Communications allegedly threw a corporate tantrum and fired everyone at WNUA-95.5 (changing the station's format from Smooth Jazz/R & B to Spanish Pop), there hasn't been anyplace to hear this show in the Chicagoland area outside of the internet (www.starstreams.com). New Age, Ambient, Trip Hop, Electronica, Chill, whatever you want to call the myriad styles available on the program, Forest (the host) had a decidedly laid-back style that perfectly fit the 10pm-midnight slot he enjoyed in WNUA's heyday. Smooth Jazz, or rather Smooth Adult Contemporary still lives in Chicago at WLFM-LP 87.7, but WNUA's early New Age format is no more.
-----------------------------
Well that's that, but I wonder if I shouldn't post these daily, then have a weekly roundup... That would alleviate the WALL OF TEXT problem I see developing.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Issue 1: The Tops
For a man who enjoys thinking outside of the box, I hold very few illusions. I suppose you could say that my head is in the clouds, but my feet are firmly on the ground. I bring this up because I understand enough about human nature to realize that I may not keep up with this blog and you may not keep reading if you dislike this first "true" posting. To mitigate this, I have not only come up with a format I think I can maintain for a very long time to come, but I have also decided to include a few "easy pitches". The following media represents some of the best little secret (and not so secret) works I can think of.
The Short Version:
-------------------------------
Movie: Snatch (2000)
Television: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
Music: Running with Scissors - "Weird" Al Yankovic (1999)Game: Bioshock (2007)
Book: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (1966)
Web: "sxephil's channel" on YouTube (2006-present)
Special - Radio: The Jack Benny Program (1932-1965)
The Long Version:
-------------------------------
Movie: Snatch (2000)
Official Trailer
Badassery Speech
Following Frankie Four-Fingers
Profanity Compilation
BrickTop as Darth Vader
Official Trailer
Badassery Speech
Following Frankie Four-Fingers
Profanity Compilation
BrickTop as Darth Vader
Writer/Director Guy Ritchie seems to have a thing for mobster movies... and comedies. see also Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (which just might get an entry of its own one of these days) and RockNRolla.
Snatch might be called a comedy of errors in the Shakespearean sense. Told from the points of view of multiple shady characters as their paths criss-cross, the plot revolves loosely around a stolen diamond and its strange journey through the London underworld.
This is a movie where the characters are real characters. Brick Top, Bullet-Tooth Tony, Frankie Four-Fingers. The cast list reads like a Dick Tracy rogues' gallery. If you want to see Jason Statham and Brad Pitt chew up the scenery in their earlier days (not to mention Dennis Farina, Vinnie Jones and Benicio Del Toro), check this out!
Television: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
It's coming up on 20 years since the original, mediocre movie that somehow managed to launch a truly meteoric series hit theaters and showed off Joss Whedon's knack for taking an audience's preconceptions and twisting them into interesting narratives four years before Scream made such a splash.
The premise is simple: What if that teenage girl that runs away from the big bad vampire into a darkened alley is actually laying a trap for the unsuspecting undead? What if she is the more dangerous of the two? The answer turned out to be hilarious, poignant, touching and (for the first three seasons at least), an excellent allegory for the awkwardness of High School life in America.
If you cannot commit to watching the entire series, I highly recommend Season 3. It's Buffy's senior year and the world at large is looming before her and her "gang" as personified by The Mayor played with a special brand of brilliance by Harry Groener.
Buffy is hardly an unknown quantity in mainstream media, but there are few series that manage to pull off humor, horror, drama, and maintain popularity so effortlessly that I wanted to acknowledge all of that here. And besides, with so many new things to see, recent hits tend to fall into a weird time-hole of not being old enough to be a classic, but not being new enough that everyone has seen it in its heyday.
Also, like the undead in the title, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been ressurrected in a slightly different form. Buffy Season Eight and the upcoming Buffy Season Nine are produced by Dark Horse Comics.
Music: Running with Scissors - "Weird" Al Yankovic (1999)
Again, "Weird" Al is not a complete unknown, but he's been around for so long that I get the impression that we're taking him for granted. It has got to be a lot of work taking so many disparate musical styles and reworking the material to fit a completely different subject and still make it funny.
"The Saga Begins" in particular is a triumph because the structure of Don McLean's "American Pie" lends itself so well to Al's lyrics (even McLean has trouble keeping the two songs' lyrics separate), and because the song was largely written before the movie was released (due to internet leaks).
Although Yankovic has produced several albums since, I still love his Running with Scissors album. And not only because the spot-on "The Saga Begins" is on it, but "Albuquerque", "Jerry Springer", "Grapefruit Diet" and "Germs" are all stellar parodies. I have yet to hear everything the man has produced, but this is the best album as a whole I've heard yet.
Game: Bioshock (2007)
Yes, it was just four years ago (or for some already four years) since Bioshock turned the first-person shooter on its ear and managed to tell a full-on story with true humanity in it. Okay, other games have managed similar feats before and since, but there was something special about the setting, the design and that unexpected twist that had every gamer who played it rethinking not just their recent decisions, but reexamining every game they'd ever played!
The story starts out so innocently: you are a man who survives a plane crash only to find himself in the ocean mere yards from a strange structure. It's the entrance to Rapture -- an underwater utopia built by a visionary who wanted to create a place where people can create without arbitrary rules hanging over their heads. Well, the place has seen better days and you soon discover that Andrew Ryan's uncontrolled freedom has indeed borne advances that the world has never seen -- and may never see due to that selfsame lack of discipline.
Tiptoeing around the plot points is hurting my head, so would you kindly play this game so I can move on to the next entry?
Book: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (1966)
I admit, I've never actually read a Mrs. Pollifax book. I have only ever heard the Books On Tape as read by Barbara Rosenblatt. Barbara infuses each character with such an amazing sense of realism you can tell who's speaking just by the way she changes her voice. That sounds like a simple thing, but the delivery is extraordinary. I have listened to other narrators and only Jim Dale (Harry Potter Series [US]) manages to pull abreast. I figured for my first 'book' entry I'd toss out this audio gem. It's arguably the best way to read the Pollifax books.
The setup: Mrs. Pollifax is a widow in her sixties, rather ordinary and most of all, bored. Her children are all grown and her husband passed away years ago. Spending her days tending plants on her apartment building's roof garden and volunteering her time in dozens of associations, committees and other establishments has begun to smother her sense of usefulness, excitement and duty. One day she finds no reason not to simply step off the roof and into oblivion. This life-changing event eventually reminded Emily Pollifax of her much younger self. Before marriage and parenthood informed the decisions she made for herself, she had wanted -- trained herself to be a spy. She had studied maps, languages, people and the politics of the world. Now that there was nothing holding her back, she decided to make herself useful to her country and rather boldly applied to become a covert agent. Through a most fortuitous coincidence, Mrs. Pollifax was chosen to be the perfect little "innocent tourist" for what was supposed to be a simple courier job. Bring Item X from Point A to Point B. But when Mrs. P is around, nothing is ever quite what you'd expect.
Web: "sxephil's channel" on YouTube (2006-present)
Mission Statement (After the LSD thing)
Original Intro/Ending
Phil has toyed with his opening a lot
Fever Story
Random Recent Video (for comparison)
Mission Statement (After the LSD thing)
Original Intro/Ending
Phil has toyed with his opening a lot
Fever Story
Random Recent Video (for comparison)
Three (or four) times a week, Philip DeFranco posts a 3-4 minute "show" where he relates whatever "mattered to him" that day. Early episodes might have focused on his personal life or things he's done/watched/played recently, but since he now has other channels for those things (the Vloggity, Like Totally Awesome), The Philip DeFranco Show is mostly about news items nowadays.
Why tune in? In addition to his self-deprecating humor, rapid-fire style and fair-minded opinions, Phil constantly invites his audience to think for themselves and not just mindlessly fall in line with popular opinion. When I first started watching years ago, Phil was working out of his bedroom on low-quality equipment and thinking about quitting. Now, thanks to YouTube's monetization programs and his continuing popularity he has his own office, he gives away prizes a couple of times a week, he's broadcasting in hi-definition, and he's making deals with folks in the film, gaming and internet industries. DeFranco has developed his own little empire on YouTube, and continues to produce quality short-form entertainment.
Special - Radio: The Jack Benny Program (1932-1965)
Yes, friends, that is over THIRTY YEARS of comedy gold across both radio and television. The Jack Benny Program has had many incarnations, sponsors, and broadcasters over the years, but the comedy has always been stellar.
The premise of many radio shows was the actual creation of the radio show headed by Jack Benny himself. Dennis Day would practice the song he would sing on that week's program, Don Wilson would present his latest idea to promote the sponsor's product, and Phil Harris (Baloo from Disney's The Jungle Book) the bandleader would run a new song past "Jackson" for approval. All while Jack Benny, his butler Rochester and often Mary Livingston went about their daily lives. Sometimes the "show within a show" would be a play they would rehearse and sometimes the show would actually be "the show" if you know what I mean.
Jack's in-show character was of a miser stingy enough to make Ebenezer Scrooge wince. He occasionally made trips to his vault for such otherwise trivial matters as to break a ten dollar bill. This vault was invariably guarded by a number of comic-sounding alarms and a live guard named Ed who doesn't even know what century it is he's been down there so long. This penny-pinching persona was so strong that in real life Jack sometimes found it hard to tip as generously as he would like. In the words of a cab driver: "It would ruin the image I have". Other aspects of the show played closer to reality. Mary was Jack's wife in reality, but played a purposely ill-defined girlfriend, secretary or personal friend on the show and film star Ronald Coleman and his wife (Jack's real neighbors) also played his neighbors on the show.
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Post Notes:
Whew! I had no idea that would be (or take) so long. I hope next week's entry will be shorter. I do have seven categories, but I would not want to have my audience tuning in daily. I've added the Short Version for those of us who want to know NOW!
While I don't want this blog to be obnoxious or garish, I wonder if a spot of color wouldn't be amiss...
Eventually, I will learn how to embed stuff, offer links and so on, but for now, Wikipedia has all that and more info on the subjects described above.
The Special category was originally just going to be Radio, but I'm going to leave it as a wild card category.
The Game Category is going to be the hardest; there are so much relative obscurity and subjectiveness involved. I expect to get the most flak from that category.
Again, I may have given myself a lofty name, but I have not experienced absolutely everything there is to experience nor to I present these suggestions as any sort of comprehensive or inherently superior catalog. These are just some personal favorites of mine and the reasons why others should seek them out.
Post Notes may not appear in future installments; I just felt the need to clarify some things.
Happy viewing,
from The Media Master
Introduction
Hello, everyone!
As this is my first post, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm known by many aliases online -- Overseer76 in gaming circles, JDonVance for more personal matters -- but for this endeavor, I decided to choose a more specific name. The title "Media Master" does strike me as pretentious, but it does carry a certain sense of authority, and perhaps I shall eventually earn the respect such a moniker would command.
I started this blog both as a way to give back to the community and as a way to share all the great stuff I have experienced over the years. In this Information Age, some of the most important software is related to search. This is how Google, Yahoo and Bing got to be such big deals. But the strongest search engine in the world is of no use unless you know what to search for. It is my intention to supply you with the names and descriptions of a few lesser known gems for your entertainment. I will describe one media item in each of various categories (including, but not limited to movies, television, web offerings and audio) every week.
Try out whichever one(s) strike your fancy, and give me some feedback if you wish. But I should point out that this blog is not intended to be a "Best of the Best" list -- many entries will be obscure and/or of limited appeal.
Well, stay tuned for the first entry. I haven't worked out exactly which day of the week these posts will go up, but I already have enough material prepared for six weeks, so it should be smooth sailing for a while.
Okay, before I ramble on any longer, I'm going to sign off and get that first post up!
Happy viewing,
from The Media Master
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