It Came From Comic-Con

 Pop Culture  No Responses »
Jul 172012
 

Another Comic-Con has come and gone and I was largely content to read the updates from the comfort of my desk (although attending the Firefly cast reunion would have been worth the trip). A few things previewed at the Con that I’m particularly anticipating:

  • Brian Wood’s Star Wars comic–I’m looking forward to the inevitable issue portraying a day in the life of a deeply cynical stormtrooper.
  • Revolution–J.J. Abrams returns to television with a series about a world in permanent blackout. I expect lots of sweaty, attractive people saying cryptic things to each other.
  • Elysium–Neal Blomkamp, director of the superlative District 9, tells another tale of the disenfranchised, this time in a future dystopian setting. But will we get anything as cool as District 9‘s battle mech sequence?
  • The Hobbit–Duh!

Anything catch your interest?

The Real Gimps Of L.A.

 Disability, Pop Culture  No Responses »
May 312012
 

The Sundance Channel is premiering a new reality/documentary series entitled Push Girls, which focuses on four Los Angeles women who have varying degrees of paralysis and use wheelchairs. The first episode is available on the website and I plan on watching it when I have the time. It’s great to have any representation of disability on television and I’m glad these women are getting a moment to shine in the public eye.

But based on the trailers for the show and interviews like this one from Ellen, Push Girls seems a bit too narrowly focused for my taste. All of the women are astonishingly beautiful and seem to require little personal assistance. They also acquired their disabilities later in life. I’m sure they encounter plenty of discrimination and clueless people, but their experiences are bound to be vastly different than those of most people with physical disabilities. The show could be so much more interesting if it included stories of women with other disabilities who may not be as attractive as these four, but who still have interesting stories to share.

It may sound like I’m hating on the show because it features women who are gorgeous and nobody who looks like, well, me. That’s not my intent. Plenty of people with disabilities are physically attractive and their experience of gimpness is just as real as mine. I’m just not sure that Hollywood can grasp any notion of disability that goes beyond an attractive person in a sitting position. I can’t remember the last time I watched a TV show or movie featuring a person in a wheelchair who didn’t look like an actor sitting in a wheelchair. Push Girls is a step above that, certainly, but I just wish that the show’s producers had shown more of an interest in showing the audience a more complete picture of disability.

Thanks For The Laughs

 Pop Culture  No Responses »
May 212012
 

I learned today that former Community showrunner Dan Harmon identifies as someone with an autism spectrum disorder. It may be that his atypical brain wiring contributed to his recent firing, which would be a shame. Harmon and his fellow writers have done a superb job of making Abed a deeply nuanced character coping with a similarly configured brain; I hope that doesn’t change in Harmon’s absence. Lesser writers could be tempted to turn Abed into a caricature of himself, making him a source of cheap laughs. The rest of the show’s writers and cast probably won’t let that happen, but I’m still going to miss Harmon’s influence on what has become one of the most adventurous scripted shows on television.

Guns And Dames

 Movies, Pop Culture  No Responses »
May 172012
 

In today’s pop-culture-news-simply-too-awesome-to-ignore, there’s word of a forthcoming Sin City sequel. One can only hope…well, I can only hope…it will feature even more fishnet-clad prostitutes wielding automatic weapons. And Clive Owen. But if I have to choose between Clive Owen and homicidal ladies of the night, I’ll have to go with the latter. Especially the one who wore the mask and the cowboy hat. Remember her? She looked like the Lone Ranger’s wet dream, if the Lone Ranger ever allowed himself a wet dream, which he probably didn’t.

My work superiors will likely withdraw that promotion if they ever read this post.

Spock Multiplied

 Geeking Out, Pop Culture  No Responses »
Apr 262012
 

I have to run, but here’s a video montage of 56 Star Trek episodes playing simultaneously. It has an interesting kaleidoscopic effect that probably makes a profound statement about the power of visual narratives, but I don’t have time to contemplate it right now.

Meet David

 Movies, Pop Culture  No Responses »
Apr 182012
 

It remains to be seen whether Prometheus will be a great movie, but its marketing department is churning out some pretty ingenious viral videos that flesh out the film’s fictional universe. The previous video featured Guy Pearce as a supremely arrogant high-tech tycoon. The latest clip gives us Michael Fassbender as an android pitching the talents and versatility of his fellow Weyland Industries androids.

Fassbender delivers a great performance, imbuing David with innocence, intelligence, and a touch of the sinister. If he’s this compelling in the actual movie, Prometheus should be a treat to watch.

Remember Ned!

 Geeking Out, Pop Culture  No Responses »
Mar 302012
 

I’m going to try to forget my troubles and look forward to Sunday’s season premiere of Game of Thrones. I’m eager to see how the writers adapt the second volume of series, which is a good deal bloodier and bigger in scope than the first book. Dragons and fully grown direwolves also feature more prominently, as well as Tyrion Lannister–one of my favorite characters. Early reviews are glowing and it seems likely HBO will renew the show for multiple seasons, so I hope George R.R. Martin has a plan for finishing the sixth and seventh volumes in the next few years.

Highly Illogical

 Pop Culture  No Responses »
Mar 292012
 

You probably need a break from reading about health care reform as much as I need a break from writing about it. Instead, I’m going to point out another injustice being perpetuated on the world. Norman Spinrad, the writer responsible for excellent Star Trek episodes like “The Doomsday Machine” was working with a group of talented fans to produce a web-based episode based on one of his scripts for the original series. But CBS beamed in an away team of lawyers and put an end to the endeavor. Some fans have speculated that J.J. Abrams may have forced CBS to act because he didn’t want anything stealing the limelight from his next Trek film. Spinrad wouldn’t confirm or deny Abrams’ involvement, but he did have this to say:

But I am not legally bound not to say that I found J.J. Abrams’ first Star Trek film quite inferior to the Phase II videos and his cavalier attitude towards the decades-long legacy of what Star Trek has come to mean to the general culture quite reprehensible, and indeed artistically counterproductive.

Oh, snap! I’m really not sure what CBS or Abrams has to fear from projects like this. It’s not as if fans will stay away from the next movie and anything that keeps Trek on geeks’ radar should be a good thing. Stupid lawyers.

Un, Deux, Trois, Quatre!

 Pop Culture  No Responses »
Mar 262012
 

On a separate note, I declare last night’s episode of Mad Men to be one of Television’s Finest Moments Ever, mostly on the strength of Megan, Don Draper’s ridiculously sexy trophy wife. This show excels at reminding me that I would make a terrible Don Draper-ish alpha male. If I had a wife who liked like Megan and was willing to sing me sexy birthday songs and clean the house in her black underwear, I’d be worshipping her on my knees while rapturous tears streamed down my face. And my knees don’t bend easily. The fact that Draper can respond to all this with a bored, slightly embarrassed look just demonstrates that I have no business ever donning a fedora or ordering a whiskey neat.

 Older Entries  Newer Entries