I thought I would take some time to recap the best and worst of May Sweeps this season. See my past May Sweeps blog for a formal introduction into what I'm talking about.
The Best of May Sweeps:
The Office - Casino night rocked! Penned by Steve Carrell this episode delivered a lot of awesome moments. I almost cried when Jim and Pam kissed. Even my husband was touched. It also was one of the most talked about season enders wherever I went.
Lost - While I felt "blah" about the entire episode as a whole, the best scene of all my May Sweeps dramas was the four-toed giant foot statue remnant on the other side of the island. It was so Rod Serling. I loved it.
Saturday Night Live & Mad TV - Both provided me with fantastic cry-out-loud laughs for their season enders. Very memorable in their own ways. Almost all the sketches were spot on in both shows. A+ comedy.
Scrubs - Surprise pregnancies galore! The girl in me likes those surprises.
Prison Break - They did break out! That's all I ever wanted. Looking forward to next season.
The Worst of May Sweeps:
American Idol - Taylor Hicks? C'mon! Again I'm reminded that America is dominated by the older generation. The contestants were all so-so for me this year honestly and no one delivered a really memorable performance. Hicks does indeed look like a drunk dad at a wedding and I really hate that image. No "SOUL PATROL" for me. The results show had just-alright musical guests. It also had the most uncomfortable moment of the TV season: Mary J Blige and Eliot singing together. Yikes. Viewership was up however, probably to laugh at (not with) Hicks.
ER/OC/Lost - Can the trend to shockingly kill off a main character end please? I find that so cliche and boring.
Grey's Anatomy/ CSI Miami - Can the trend to shockingly kill off a non-main character or love interest please end? That is such a cop out to character development.
Survivor - Terrible season finale. Aras? B.O.R.I.N.G. It was the worst season I've watched and it may have convinced me to stop watching this show next season altogether. It's just not as fun as I used to think it was, kind of like Real World. Maybe I've outgrown it. Wasn't Great/Wasn't Bad:
Supernatural - A bit of an unsatisfying season finale but still I was okay with it. I did JUMP from fright a few times.
24 - The ending was long and predictable. It's unfortunate considering the beginning of the season was quite shocking.
CSI - The ending made me say "yikes!" I'm referring to the moment when you see that Gil is casually sleeping with Sara. Joe and I were kind of grossed out actually. I prefer Lady Heather.
There will always be a place in my heart for Napoleon Dynamite. I'll give you a little background as to why so that even if you perhaps hate the film you will understand my position. I give a brief review of the DVD as well at the end (so skip down if you want) with all the special features. It's very apt to discuss it here on my pop culture section of my website because this movie HAS invaded our pop culture. Love it or hate it, it's everywhere.
2004, Spring. My dad calls to tell me that he has gotten free tickets to see this movie called Napoleon Dynamite and asks if Joe and I would like to tag along with him and my sister (who at the time is about fifteen). Sure, no problem, I say. It was quite a drive to get to the screening theater- over an hour I'm sure - and I honestly am not sure why we even went when I think back. Still, the point is, we went. We were greeted by some young MTV-hipsters who gave us free T-Shirts, stickers, and buttons. Cool, I thought, although I had no idea why I would want a pin that said "Vote for Pedro." The screening was before all the funny MTV promos and previews so we really had no clue what we were going to watch.
So we settle in, the movie starts, and it's the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. No one in the theater really laughs, except when Napoleon takes his bike off a "sweet jump" and crashes. I giggled once or twice but overall when I left the theater I was kind of unsure of the whole thing. Joe, of course, loved the entire movie. Dad, my sister, I, and dad's friend Steve left the theater dazed and parted ways to mull over what we had seen.
Fast forward a week. Joe and I have begun talking about the movie to death. We imitate Napoleon's voice (now way overdone by the youth of today I may add) and my dad, sister, and I all begin quoting the movie. Then the MTV promos begin to air and we call each other to ask "Did you see the one where Napoleon calls the zoo about Ligers?" Then the extended ending was added and Joe and I went to the theater to see it again. This time, the theater was pretty full and people were BUSTING out laughing.
I'm not quite sure how that phenomenon works. Why did I not "get" the film at first? How has it become so popular and so quoted today? That doesn't really matter I guess. This will always be a classic film for me, especially when I consider that I saw it before most people did and how it really brought my family closer. Plus, it's so refreshing to watch a comedy where the "F" bomb isn't thrown out there every few sentences. There is no cursing, no serious adult themes, nothing that would make this movie "bad." Some would say it has no plot. What movie did they watch? Work hard, be sincere and maybe your wildest dreams will come true.....
Anyway, onto my review...
Napoleon Dynamite - Like, the Best Special Edition Ever! DVD Review The case for this edition is fun - a goofy lenticular of Napoleon's dance, which almost was worth the price of the DVD alone. The commentary is okay (done by the director, and all the major actors). Nothing that is crack-up hilarious but it's still interesting and not as dull as I thought it may be. The best part is the second DVD with all sorts of goodies: ALL the MTV promos, Jon Heder's SNL monologue and appearances by Napoleon all over the place. The best "treasure" is probably Napoleon and Pedro promoting the Utah State Fair, something that you would never have seen unless you 1.lived in Utah or 2. bought this DVD. All the goodies from the first film are here as well so no need to have both editions. The transfer looks about the same as the first edition visually and the sound is perfectly acceptable. Overall, for a hardcore Napoleon fan, a must-have. I sold me old DVD on Ebay to upgrade, and I'm glad I did.
I did not read Infinite Crisis which left me at a major disadvantage picking up this series. Thank goodness for wikipedia and their recap (and eBay which will procure me the issues!). Read a synopsis of that arc here.
52 is a comic book series that is a little different. For the next 52 weeks there will be a new issue of 52 every week. A WEEKLY comic, something pretty rare in the industry today. Needless to say, with that small fact alone I was very excited. No more waiting six weeks to know where a mediocre story is going! And at a price point of $2.50 an issue I couldn't resist picking up the first one.
My thoughts? Didn't love it. Definitely liked it. The first issue is a nice set up for six main characters who are probably going to become very dominant in the next year. Ralph Dibny, Black Adam, The Question, Booster Gold, John Henry Irons (Steel), & Renee Montoya all briefly make an appearance. None of those, well besides The Question, who I only know about because of Justice League Unlimited on Cartoon Network, is particularly a fantastic character. But I think that's the point of the story because when the major three turn up missing (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) some people have to pick up the pieces. I think I could very easily become invested in these less-than-super super heroes.
The art is done in my favorite style, with lots of lines and not overly colored and blended (something that Marvel is very guilty of recently). It's almost up to Jim Lee standard and I loved it. For that alone I would pay $2.50 for every week.
So DC's gimmick is going to work on me. Every week I'm going to go into the comic store and buy one comic. My only worry is that they will miss a deadline and the book will not come out weekly. If that happens DC may lose me and I'll sell off my single issues in protest. But for now I remain idealistic and Wednesday, the day comics come out, is only two days away. I'm ready for week #2!
Marvel has these banners on their website so you can proclaim whose side you're on for their "Civil War". Apparently, most comic fans are on Captain America's side right now. That's pretty ironic considering in the comic most people are on Iron Man's side. Personally, I'm with Iron Man on this one.
For the record I still don't like the comic. But I do love the fact that with all the media coverage of this one I've actually been able to talk to people about comics again.
Next week I'll be reviewing DC's big summer (and year long) blockbuster "52." Stay tuned...
Civil War #1 Written by Mark Millar Art by Steve McNiven Ink by Dexter Vines, Colorist Morry Hollowell
Marvel is desperate to compete with DC. What Marvel refuses to embrace though is that it's universe isn't as dark as that of Batman and the Justice League. Never has been in my opinion. There is a huge difference between characters in these two worlds, so the superheroes should in theory react to a similar situation very differently.
Apparently though, when you're trying to compete with DC, you have your Marvel superheroes act completely out of character just so they can be "dark" like Batman. And that is why I absolutely hated Civil War.
First off, the premise is old. A "superhero" villain explodes a whole town killing hundreds of innocent civilians, causing politicians and us regular humans to decry a superhero registration system to help monitor their powers. Uh....been there done that with the X-Men how many times? Just because you substitute the word "superhero" for "mutant" doesn't make this story different. So I have an issue with that because it should be addressed that mutants have been fighting a registration act for a long time. Millar tends to rush a storyline or make it a tad bit crazy to get to his major character kicking ass (read his run in Wolverine for example). So I'm a bit disappointed he resorts to his same tricks in this book.
So who is the major character serving up a can of whoop ass? Captain America. Except he isn't fighting bad guys, he's suddenly fighting SHIELD agents. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA??????????????????
There is no way super soldier Captain America, who has served this country since WWII and beyond, would ever oppose super hero registration. Captain America is no liberal! He's an all-American brain-washed conservative soldier who would gladly embrace the opportunity to make sure no more innocent civilians get hurt by out of control superheroes. He's never hid his identity from the American people and I'm sure he would agree no one else needs to either.
Instead though, Captain America is for no good reason opposed to the registration. He goes on this violent rampage (!) and thus starts the "Civil War." Ironman Tony Stark is somehow the voice of reason (also out of character) and states after the rampage,"You idiot, we were trying to save lives." Somehow Captain America is the Hulk now? An "idiot?" No way.
So, I hated it. Do NOT recommend it to comic book fans. Somewhere I read the line "If you like Identity Crisis, you'll love this." My response to that? No you won't. This isn't written by a novelist who knows how to write a tight story. This is written by a guy who writes his stories around splash pages of Captain America surfing on a fighter plane. BIG difference.
And if you want to read some fantastic Captain America, may I suggest the Ultimates 1 & 2, also written by Mark Millar. That is a really great read, and obviously where Millar puts his best ideas. Civil War is sensationalist crap, meant in to bring in the suckers who fall for fanboy junk.
Oh yea, I should mention the art? Pretty good. Seen better. The coloring isn't as crisp as it should be and I believe the colorist is to blame. Plus McNiven gives Captain America high watered bell bottoms which is kinda stupid considering how impractical they are in a fight. Not as polished as I expected and hopefully all the issues come out on time to make up for the rush job. Doesn't matter to me though. I will not be reading another one.
I thought to myself, "I really need to write about some popular fiction in my blog" and there is no better time to write about Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code than the present. This book is so infused in our modern pop culture you cannot escape it's influence anywhere. Go to cnn.com and you'll find a news story about how Brown has been sued, then sued again, for 'stealing' ideas. Look at the fiction bestsellers list and see what's number 1 and 2 every week. See previews for the movie based on the novel starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou. Not to mention The DaVinci Code knock-off novels (they should be the ones being sued), the unauthorized companion novels and the History Channel exposes on why his book is still just fantasy. Oh, and of course, the board game.
First off, at UPenn I had a minimester class on Leonardo Da Vinci and there was no mention of the Knights of Templar when I took that class. Mostly the subject matter was boring stuff about his life and all the crazy invention ideas he had, and how he made mad money from the church with his art. So I picked up The Da Vinci Code over two years ago when my college knowledge was pretty fresh. I can say everything I read in the book was never covered in my college class, so for me it really was pure fiction.
The hook of the first chapters is amazing - intrigue, murder, art history. All the stuff I could ever want in a fluff novel. The characters are interesting, the villain unknown.....
and then comes the ending.
Soooo cheesy. Soooo unbelievable and eye-rolling bad. It reads a bit like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, which isn't a compliment. The main character, the scholar, suddenly turns into Indiana Jones and does some crazy ass stunts and acts of violence by the end. I thought that was pretty ridiculous considering this is a nerdy bookworm type character, much like my real minimester professor, who probably hadn't worked out in a long time. Not to mention the last chapter is just kinda painful to read and totally deflated. The 'conclusion' just didn't do it for me. Brown's first novel Angels and Demons was more of the same. I haven't read another one of his books since because I realized he's a one-trick pony. Interesting hooks but no sweet pay-off endings.
My two cents on why The Da Vinci Code is a phenomenon? The subject is controversial and religious and you feel like you're getting a history lesson (although you're not really) without the snoozing you may remember from history class. It's a smooth read, not too many big words or fancy talk, so anyone can pick it up with any kind of reading level. That's okay with me, I'm glad there is some book I can talk to people about, although I do wish it was Case Histories instead.
What's funny is that of all the people I've talked to about this book not one person is ever blown-away by it. They usually say the same things I do like "it was really good at the beginning..." or "I really liked the art history stuff." I'm sure there must be plenty of people proclaiming "this book knocked my socks off!" but I haven't met them yet.
What's also funny is that when I mention to someone one of my pastimes is reading, the first thing they ask me is, "Have you read The DaVinci Code?" I usually laugh at this, and say yes, of course. How could I not? It's part of adult American pop culture and I'm the Pop Culture Woman.
