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Saturday, May 18, 2002 ( 5/18/2002 08:26:00 AM ) Bill S. CLOSED CAPTIONED FOR YOUR VIEWING ENJOYMENT - One glitch we’ve noticed watching the ABC Family version of Alias: though the family-friendly channel blanks out obscenities, they aren’t always cut from the closed captioning. As more TV shows have switched to a film format and away from a declamatory style of oratory, we’ve found closed captioning to be a most helpful feature. (Makes all that muttering dialog on X-Files so much easier to sort.) But the format also has its own amusing eccentricities. Scrolling censored swear words across the screen is only part of the fun. Watching poor caption-writers struggling to keep up with talk shows that have been lensed earlier in the day (e.g., when Letterman goes off into a riff, frequently the captioneers will simply state “Dave scats”), counting the misspellings and the occasional descents into gobble-de-gook – it’s all good. In case of cartoon series like The Simpsons, captioning is apparently based on drafts of scripts that may get revised during their actual recording. As a result, the attentive reader will occasionally find a totally different joke on the screen from the one the characters are delivering: two jokes for the price of one! This intriguing form of cognitive dissonance can also occur with background music: this week’s West Wing, for example, contained a scene where a character danced around her apartment to Van Morrison. The song that we heard was “Caravan” from the Moon Dance album; the song that was scrolled was “Moon Dance” itself. Perhaps the director thought that the latter song has been heard just too often. It’s bits like this that have us utilizing the closed captioning functioning on our set even when it’s not really necessary. Sometimes a good caption snafu will pull you through even the dullest snatch of dialog. . . # | ( 5/18/2002 07:41:00 AM ) Bill S. LOVE, SYDNEY – This week’s season finale for Alias was suitably hectic: two plot-driven break-ins; a grueling Marathon Man-style torture sequence for nice-guy reporter Will Tippin balanced by Jack Bristow’s brief but still brutal interrogation of a C.I.A. mole; the possible assassination of SD-6 head Arvin Sloane’s wife (Amy Irving) by her loving husband; the seeming death of Sydney’s handler Michael Vaughn and the discovery of her double-agency activities by her SD-6 partner Dixon; plus the cliff-hanger capture of our heroine by the same people who earlier tortured her friend. Quite an event-filled ep – and I haven’t even mentioned the last minute appearance of a character we’ve been waiting all season to see: Sydney’s super-spy mother. When I first heard that the folks responsible for Felicity were doing a college girl spy series, I was more than a little skeptical – heck, I was out-and-out hostile to the idea. But over its first season, Alias has become an addictive pleasure: the techno-driven action sequences (bringing the adrenalin pulse of Run, Lola, Run to the small screen), the enjoyably rococo spy games and convoluted dysfunctional family dynamics, the winking guest stars (Roger Moore as a double-dealing Alliance member, Quentin Tarantino as a vengeful mercenary!) have all combined into making Alias one sleek ride. And while some of the show’s stay-at-home “domestic” interludes with Sydney’s friends and roommate have been a bit leaden, these have lessened significantly over weeks as the spy stuff’s gotten more complex. So now I’m hooked on the exploits of Jennifer (soon-to-be: Elektra) Garner plus her friends & colleagues. And I won’t mind next season when X-Files has been replaced on Fox by Who Wants to Marry A Gold-Digging Bimbo? Means I finally won’t need to watch the ABC Family network mirror of Alias on Fridays with all the swear words bleeped out. # | Friday, May 17, 2002 ( 5/17/2002 07:19:00 AM ) Bill S. ENDNOTES – Never let it be said that we aren’t excessively focused on the trivial here at Pop Culture Gadabout. In that spirit we’d like to offer kudos to comics writer Kurt Busiek for his box-burstin’ handling of the pressing footnote problem in comics today. In issue #4 of his new DC superhero team book, The Power Company, Busiek initiated an endnotes feature in the book’s letter page. Since the glory days of Smilin’ Stan’s chatty footnotes in the pages of Marvel Comics, comic book footnotes have been incorporated onto the story panels themselves (before Stan started doin’ ‘em in the sixties, you’d have been hard-pressed to find any continuity annotation in comic books). Lee made ‘em part of his ongoing dialog with the readership, though, more recently, they’ve generally served more mundane purposes. Frequently, when DC has reprinted its books in trade paperback form, they’ve even blacked out the little footnote boxes – not the most aesthetically pleasing decision, but you can understand why it’s done since many of the notes reflect back to issues that are also being reprinted in the same book. “Who wants to cover up that great Grummett/Rollins art with reference?” Busiek notes in ish four’s back pages. Power Company’s endnotes do away with that problem altogether and also help to lessen the impression that the only way you can “get” what’s going on in a story is to own a room full of back issues. Sometimes a small format change like that can do wonders toward fomenting good will among the readership. As for the series itself, that’s a critical tale for another time . . . # | ( 5/17/2002 07:18:00 AM ) Bill S. BLOGGIN’ AROUND - Are you sick of poli-blogs linking to other poli-blogs in an endless circle jerk of mutual ideological arousal? Well, here at PCG we share your disgust – which is why we’re linking to a new cool un-poli-blog entitled Hooray for Captain Spaulding ("Posting to You Live from The Margins of Show Biz!") Screw all this political discussion: we want more talk about comic books, stand-up comedians and Woody Allen movies! # | Thursday, May 16, 2002 ( 5/16/2002 08:38:00 PM ) Bill S. AD SOUNDS - Midpoint into June, I know we’ll be sick of ‘em – but at the moment, I’m feeling kindly toward the new series of Gap ads: the Coen Bros. and Cameron Crowe-directed entries inspired me into taking Pet Sounds and the four Nuggets II (“Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond: 1964 – 1969”) discs in the car for a couple of long trips. I know it’s my age, but the sound of sixties fuzz guitar blasting on a sunny spring day remains one of the coolest sounds I know. As for Pet Sounds, after years of excessive lauding by rock critics and Beach Boy fanatics, its stature among pop junkies appears to have diminished a tad. (Perhaps it’d be better if – instead of looking at it as an uncharacteristic Beach Boys elpee – it was called the first Brian Wilson solo work.) But to these ears it remains one of the most gorgeous works of sixties pop around: still evocative after all these years, still full of aural surprises. The Beach Boys song used in the Gap ad w./ Dennis Hopper and a distressingly gaunt Christina Ricci is “I Know There’s An Answer,” one of the better non-hit songs from Sounds (which gave us “Sloop John B” and “Caroline No”). “Answer” is sometimes known by its early draft name, “Hang Onto Your Ego,” (former Pixie Frank Black once recorded that version of the song), and while both songs are available on the CD release, the finished version has more polished lyrics and better vocals. As far as I can tell, the musical backing tracks are the same, so the snippet of instrumental opening heard on the commercial itself could legitimately be said to come from either version. “Ego” = crude but honest alterna-pop. “Answer” = slick but honest pop. The Pop Fan Dichotomy of the Day. # | Wednesday, May 15, 2002 ( 5/15/2002 04:50:00 AM ) Bill S. WEEP FOR WILLOW - Dear sweet Willow (Alyson Hannigan) has fallen off the wagon in a big way: wreaking gory vengeance on Warren, the unpleasant third of the Trio, for his accidental murder of her lover Tara. Not unexpected at this juncture, though only the Buffy shop knows if our favorite bi-sexual Wiccan will return from the dark side. As with so many big developments on this show, it’s clear the writers (Marti Noxon, in this case) had planted the seeds for it several seasons ago. One of the nice things about the regular rotation of Buffy reruns currently on FX is the way newcomers (and obsessive fans) have easy access to these moments. Thus, when an evil vampire permutation of Willow came to Sunnydale from an alternate universe several years ago, we were given hints that she reflected sides of Willow’s character that we hadn’t seen. Noxon nailed this home last night by having Willow quote her doppleganger’s singsongy catch-phrase (“Bo-ored now. . .”) just before she magically wasted Warren. So next week’s the big two-hour season finale, and Buffy buffs everywhere are wondering if it’s gonna end with the opening credits being reworked yet again. I’m definitely not bored . . . # | Tuesday, May 14, 2002 ( 5/14/2002 01:45:00 PM ) Bill S. JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR NUTHIN’ LEFT TO LOSE – Well, it’s official that Bill Maher’s gonna be shunted off his cozy little late-nite slot on ABC: no surprise, really, though I still find it disheartening. It’s not like I’ve watched his show much – never found him as free-wheeling as he seemed to think he was: another paper Libertarian standing up for his right to be a contrarian on the air – gosh, but it’s tough to be a successful show biz white guy. But the thought of replacing Maher with Jimmy (Man Show) Kimmel, of all people, stands as testimony to the gutlessness of the mainstream networks. Maher’s days were numbered ever since he made the post-9-11 comment about terrorist courage that drove Ari Fleischer into publicly lambasting him. (The day Fleischer made his statement I remember thinking of an old Monty Python sketch: big game hunters using heavy artillery to kill and subdue the “wily mosquito,” ravaging the landscape as they go.) The tempest that arose over his comments on late-night teevee was a prime example of misdirected energy, I thought. At a time when we wanted our government to be telling us what it was doing to respond to the attacks, there was the White House Press Secretary chastising a TV comedian, forgawdsakes. Maher’s comments were poorly timed and insensitive, but what do you expect from a host & show that bragged about being Politically Incorrect? Or is political incorrectness only acceptable when it offends Liberals? Perhaps we’ll get an answer to that question once Kimmel – whose Man Show was designed as a none-too-humorous antidote to the Sensitive New Age Guy – takes over the timeslot. I suspect, though, that I know the answer to that 2nd question already. # | ( 5/14/2002 09:19:00 AM ) Bill S. “BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I ROCK-N-ROLLED . . .” – Reading Joshua Micah Marshall’s most-excellent poli-blog last week, I was pleasantly surprised to see a brief graf on the virtues of Led Zeppelin’s 4th album. I’m not a big fan of the Zep – or that album, in particular: if I never hear another playing of “Stairway to Heaven” again, I know I won’t personally feel bereft. But it’s still cool to read what more profound minds than me have playing in the background of their lives . . . # | ( 5/14/2002 07:33:00 AM ) Bill S. TOMB OF BLADE-ULA - Didn’t make it into the theatres in time to catch Blade II, so over the weekend I bought and read Marvel Comics’ adaptation of their second-biggest box office blockbuster for 2002. Scripter Steve Gerber, from the screenplay by David Goyer, was slumming on this ‘un: nice to see the guy working steadily, but it’s clear his heart isn’t into this project. The adaptation is perfunctory, with confusing transitions and some out-and-out what-the-hell? moments, though Alberto Ponticelli’s art catches the flavor of Blade’s movie world. Still, I enjoyed the book for its “bonus” feature: reprints of Blade’s first extended appearance in the seventies Marvel comic, Tomb of Dracula. (Can you legitimately call it bonus material when it comprises more than twice the page space of the movie adaptation?) Blade’s subplot comprises only a fraction of the reprint pages – the bulk of the TOD issues (#45-53) are devoted to a convoluted plot involving master vamp Dracula’s machinations with a satanic cult – but that’s okay. It was fun reading the Marv Wolfman/Gene Colan comic book material again. Tomb is perhaps the best of the monster comics that Marvel was producing by the truckload in the seventies: the closest approximation to a Hammer flick that the Code-bound company produced. Colan was one of the masters of old-fashioned gothic candelabra imagery, so he was perfectly suited to a book with more than its share of stone-hewn staircases and bodice-heaving maidens. His Blade is a pure seventies visual creation – one look at those big yellow sunglasses and you can’t help snickering (they look like something my ancient mother-in-law would’ve bought for five dollars at Walgreen’s) – but then so are the book’s other contemporary characters. (Harold Harold, Wolfman’s comic relief, is openly meant to recall Woody Allen: ironic when you consider that his name also brings up Lolita’s anti-hero.) The Marvel trade paperback claims the TOD reprints present Blade’s “initial encounter with Dracula, lord of the vampires,” but that’s not correct. In fact, Blade first showed up in the book a few years earlier (#10) and did battle with the LOV then. Still, that’s a small grouse: reading Wolfman & Colan's series was enough to get me longing for a more extensive reprint. Reportedly, a black-and-white Essentials trade is in the works – then, we’ll have the chance to fully revisit Blade’s debut. # | Monday, May 13, 2002 ( 5/13/2002 10:54:00 AM ) Bill S. BUD BUNDY REVISITED – This week’s Most Inspired Casting Award goes to Sunday’s X-Files, which focused on a psychokinetic who was mentally bringing the cast and set of his favorite childhood sitcom, The Brady Bunch, to life. Playing the part of a townee who breaks into this paranormally campy setting: David Faustino, best known as Bud Bundy, skeezy scion of Fox’s favorite lumpen family. Low-life versus kitsch-life – and the later emerged victorious! I’m sure this sez something profound about the state of network television today . . . # | ( 5/13/2002 09:45:00 AM ) Bill S. PSYCHO KILLER, QU’EST-CE QUE, C’EST? - Must be May Sweeps: The Practice has trotted out another psycho killer plotline. My new critical theory re: David E. Kelley series – the man should not be allowed to extend any show past two years. Viewing the degeneration of a decent dramatic series can be a disheartening experience; what makes Kelley’s particularly depressing is the speed with which they can turn into utter crap. The Practice is a not-so-stellar example of this trend. In its early seasons, the show was a fine example of the Serious Lawyer Show (the template was set with The Defenders, maintained in the early years of L.A. Law). Impassioned and thoughtful, it worked as both issue-driven discussion and as character drama. But over time, Kelley and his writing staff turned the focus toward more sensation-driven stories, often at the expense of the show’s talented pool of actors, and plot twists that have grown more predictable with familiarity. Last night’s ep, which featured perpetual whiner Lindsay Dole (Kelli Williams) being threatened for the second time by a psychotic (not counting the time she was stabbed by the series’ premiere wack-job, George Vogelman), was more of the same ol'/same ol'. The show ended with a stressed-out Lindsay shooting said psycho, bringing up memories of last year’s subplot where hubby Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott) inadvertently hired a hit man to off Lindsay’s first mentally ill stalker. So now we’re facing another trial against one of the firm’s members: Kelley is not gonna be satisfied until everyone in that office is a defendant. I won’t even bother to go into last night’s second story – which featured a twin brother “twist” so telegraphed that both my wife and I picked up on it when it was set up. (Becky’s usually quicker when it comes to anticipating this stuff, but this ‘un was immediately obvious even for me.) Let’s just say that the details around DNA sampling wouldn’t have surprised anyone who’s seen The Simpsons’ “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” ep. Next week is the season finale: a two-hour gig that’ll be competing with the mythology wrapping final episode of X-Files. At one point in our house this might’ve called for some heavy duty VCR work, but I’m not sure we’re feeling that same urgency these days. # | Sunday, May 12, 2002 ( 5/12/2002 08:16:00 AM ) Bill S. ENDOMORPHIC RESONANCE - Noticed several blog references to girlie artist Coop over the last week, so I thought I’d devote a paragraph or two to the eroti-toonist who most speaks to me: Ned Sonntag. Ned’s work first clicked with me back in the underground comix era. He was doing a lot of duck figures then, but even at that point in his career, he was drawing female figures that I liked. A fat admirer, Ned’s most sexy femmes are zaftig beauties much larger than the conventional pin-up image. Sonntag renders these models of plus-sized pulchritude from a lifetime’s experience of ogling super-sized shapes – unlike many cartoon fat women, they generously reflect the multitudinous combos of body shape that exist in the world. Clearly, Ned loves his subjects. Writing plus-size smut and fantasies under the name of Wilson Barbers, I’ve been privileged to have Ned graphics on several stories of mine. (Some of these images can be found at the Wilson Barbers site, though the more explicit ones that he did for Juggs or BUF couldn’t be put up due to Geocities’ restrictions.) Like Coop’s art, Ned’s is not for those who are offended by lusty visual appreciations of the female form – or by occult imagery for that matter. Middle-aged degenerate that I am, I like it just fine. (Ned has a studio website that appears to be down at the moment. When it goes back up, I'll post the link to it.) # | ( 5/12/2002 06:04:00 AM ) Bill S. “ILLEGAL, IMMORAL AND FATTENING” - Put up May’s Rhino of the Month this weekend: an older CD release devoted to long-standing Rhino faves Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, a.k.a. Flo & Eddie. Pure pop for retrograde people. # | |
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