Posts Tagged ‘six feet under’
bloody mess »
Friday, June 19th, 2009
Have you heard of True Blood? It’s seriously hyped and critically acclaimed. If that’s too vague for you, let me be explicit: it sucks. (Pun intended.)
To get you up to speed, it’s a series on HBO. Vampires are real and discriminated against. Near-blood is created so they can quench their thirst without the neck of a too-hot coed. It’s called True Blood. (See what they do there?)
Anna (“mind-the-gap”) Paquin is the lead, who falls in love with a vampire engeniously named Bill. He, of course, is one of the human-friendly vamps who refuses to kill. There’s also a shape-shifting guy. But before I get into that… how about the positive?
Being on HBO and an elaborate drama, there’s flagrant nudity. The action can be awesome and the character interaction interesting. The acting is adequate, usually. And… that’s it?
Yes. That’s it. It sucks for a few dozen reasons but here are a few.
The thinly veiled prejudice metaphor is muddled at best. Vamps are treated like second-class citizens and their blood is a drug? Why can Paquin’s character hear thoughts? If the vamps are “homosexuals” is the shape-shifter someone with a learning disability?
There’s barely any of the entertaining action. Each episode usually has a charged scene where one of the attractive characters loses all or an article of their clothes but the rest is yawn.
As far as critics liking it, maybe they’re just watching it as a remake of Six Feet Under (a great show by the same creater). Or their not watching it. The writing is mediocre, the characters are absurd and most of the drama comes from watching the cast improvise a storyline.
Take, for instance, the premiere. It’s a solid example of how lame meets duh in a back-woods Louisiana-ish setting. (I’ll try not to ruin details for you fans out there.)
Shape-shifter has flashbacks to stealing some artifact from a cougar he got on back in the day. There’s a sex scene that involves biting and slightly more nudity than blood. Someone’s found in a car heartless (literally), sparking more flashbacks. A new vamp bitches about the taste of True Blood.
Really. Who. Cares.
Photo courtesy MoTechPosters
friday free for all »
Friday, February 13th, 2009
… I was sick Saturday night through Tuesday night. I caught up on “Flight of the Conchords,” “Six Feet Under,” finished “This Land is Their Land” and watched a few movies. Calling that productive is like calling me handsome or universally liked. (In that it’s so obvious it causes nosebleeds, of course.)
… Wednesday, Girlfriend and I had a night out. With the trips and work and pulling my hair out (metaphorically) and all that, it’s been awhile. As it’s winter and Minneapolis can make a witch’s teet seem tropical, we went to a movie. (The Reader, more on that later.)
Kerasotes, awhile back, bought out the multi-screen downtown. They offer a Five Buck Club (free!) that sends you a card and then emails about upcoming shows you can get at that ridiculously low (high, for the “back in my day” folk) price. If you’re not part of the club, you’re dimmer than an compact-fluorescent after the Apocalypse, I guess, is what I’m saying.
… This weekend is Valentine’s Day. I try (and fail) to make Girlfriend feel as special as I think she is every day. Luckily, there’s a day when I can do that when everyone else is doing the same. (Individuality!)
Guys, make sure you do something worthy of her telling her friends about it. It’s all she thinks about (according to all the sexist ads out this week) between how many carats her dream ring is/which detergent to use/how fat she feels and how annoyed she is that you like sports/don’t vacuum/are a terrible father.
Singles, here’s your annual chance for some pity-play. Happy hunting!
is everyone doing web-isodes now? »
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
I mentioned awhile back the whole I’m Just Sayin’ Show thing (still keep up with them; latest episode here ). Then I had a couple QwkThts (I’m so cool) about the lead-up to Jimmy Fallon’s show. (Here are a couple notables with guest stars.)
And now I find out Fred Armisen, with Carrie Brownstein (never heard of her) is rocking over at ThunderAnt. Which has me curious… with it being so easy to make a video and post it online, why do we still have television?
In a quick assessment of my viewing habits, things have moved decidedly interweb-ward. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Online (eight days later). The Office. Online. Flight of the Conchords. Online (awesome). House M.D. Online (eventually). How I Met Your Mother. Online. And of course, The Daily Report. Online, online.
With the pending switch to Netflix and a little broadband I can nix the tube all together. But, as I sit here, I’ve just caught up on On-Demand Six Feet Under and Flight of the Conchords so… that’s all hot air (which, in all honesty, should be expected).
Plus, who doesn’t love a little HGTV or Bravo or Discovery or USA (it’s a place for characters) in the background while doing any number of more important things? Totally worth the inexplicable cost.