BLUE MAG

Though animated films are not my favorite types of films — at least not the ones made since about 1970 — I have made notable exceptions, as millions of other humans have, for Pixar. I think “The Incredibles” was an incredible film, and “Ratatouille” was pretty exceptional as well. Oh and the “Toy Stories,” those were fine as well. And I’m sure that someday I’ll get around to seeing this year’s entry, “WALL-E.” The early breathless reviews are in and this one is sure to smash all preconceived notions of a successful opening weekend for Pixar.

I am liking what I see about this film’s use of classic sci-fi storytelling. If you haven’t heard, “WALL-E” takes place in the year 2700, when Earth is an uninhabitable trash dump and all humans are gigantic fat blobs waiting for a cute robot to clean it up. Hmm, I am required to say, really makes you think about how all humans right now are giant fat slobs filling our planet with trash, don’t you get it?

Surely we are so enlightened that we will not bat an eyelash at the thousands of disposable WALL-E pieces of plastic shit that will be filling our landfills in a few months. I mean isn’t that just another layer of meaning? A film geared poking fun at our fat disgusting landfill-ing culture that, as a Pixar product, love it as much as we all do, is part of one of the most massively wasteful enterprises in human history?

By the way, the design of “WALL-E” reminds me of 1979’s “The Black Hole,” which I had to Google not just to provide the link but also to prove to myself that it really existed. This is “B.O.B.” from “The Black Hole.” Oh and remember how scary this thing was?

“It’s not TV; it’s birth control,” NBC very humbly tells us about “The Baby Borrowers.” Another good catchphrase would have been “It’s not TV; it’s full of crap.”

This show, oddly enough a British import, allows 18-20 y.o. couples who claim to want to have babies to raise someone else’s kids for a few weeks. They get infants for a few days, then on to toddlers and even teenagers and the elderly. The idea being they’ll see how soul-killingly awful it is to have to care for another human and will see the error of their ways and commit themselves to a lifetime of sitting in suspended animation, eyeballs taped open to view whatever NBC puts on the TV, or not-TV.

Some of these couples are fresh out of high school. For a few weeks NBC is allowing them to live it up in a bank-owned home (I made that up), shacking up and sharing a bed. In other words: You are too immature to want to have babies; why don’t you two sleep in this bed together for a few weeks and let that sink in. Also: They are charged with the care of real parents’ babies. At one point in the premiere episode, which aired June 26, a fed-up teen fake mother encouraged her charge to “starve” after her attempt to feed him was met with some difficulty. In other words: Babies are a big responsibility; why don’t you two raise this baby that Cindy and Joe dropped off for a few days and think about that.

It is frighteningly irresponsible; unflattering for everybody involved except the babies. It is hilariously bad taste to call it “birth control,” especially when you think about what is going on: A giant corporation renting babies to prove to the youth of America that procreation is doubleplusungood.

The Baby Borrowers
9:00 PM Wednesdays on NBC

I don’t know enough about how the business of show works, so this is more of a question situation… How was “The Soup” able to put on a show on Friday night? I know that it can’t have been written in advance. How does the scab/picket line crossing thing work? If the writers are non-union, don’t they risk “never working in this business again” if they write during the strike? I confused.

I did not watch, but I am hearing from multiple sources that the show was noticeably edgier Friday night. Interesting…

If NBC had any sense of dignity or proportion or anything regarding sanity it would be ashamed. This “Green Week” stuff is by far the most disgustingly and absurdly fake idea that has ever been hatched. As a television network, NBC exists entirely to waste. Nothing manufactured by NBC will ever solve an environmental problem, and in fact almost everything NBC ever does (measure its success by how many people pump electricity into their TVs at the same exact moment, advertise wasteful products, buy lakes full of gasoline simply to transport props, pay to keep shows on hold during the WGA strike, pay people to act on “ER” 8 seasons after it should have been canceled) is environmentally damaging either directly or indirectly.

It is so offensive for NBC to devote a second of its programming to preaching about “all this ‘green’ crap.” Al Gore and David Schwimmer made this week’s episode of “30 Rock” almost completely unwatchable, and only the genius intervention of Ken’s very last party saved the episode. Tina Fey, you are skating on very thin ice. I kind of secretly hope that shit gets canceled during the strike.

Ugh. If “Friday Night Lights” follows suit tomorrow with the green crap I can promise you I will never watch that program again.

On a positive note, “Office” opted out of the green trope by putting Michael out in the wilderness. Overall, a pretty decent episode. The final moments between Jim and Michael were fabulous, although bittersweet — that could be the last “Office” moment for a long time.

Carpoolers

I am seriously lacking in the posting dudes and dudettes, and I’m going to try to begin getting my mojo back with…

Fall hits and misses

What shows are making the grade so far? What shows are not? I’ll tell you below in…

Fall hits and misses
Okay that was silly, even for me. Moving on.

Continue reading Fall hits and misses

Just got an email from my good friend Albert Gore… looks like Current.com, formerly of Current.tv, has launched/relaunched. I liked Current.tv better as a URL but in general I really dig what Current is doing.

Yo, Al G… the layout is jacked in Opera 9.23… which is probably a highly used browser by your audience…

Narrative film began with the Western. It’s a troubling genre sometimes full of explicit racism and visual poetry within the same frame. Perhaps that is why it is so quintessentially American because it is a genre full of the best and worst angels of our nature. Essentially the Western is a morality play telling modern myths of how to be civilized and behave in white and black hats. It seems fitting that the latest released forays into the genre should cut to the binary quick: two men, one good, one bad or are they? Continue reading New Westerns

Remember “Babylon Fields,” the zombie pilot that didn’t make CBS’s fall lineup? Some videos from the ill-fated pilot have surfaced today courtesy of TV Week and they are frigging nuts. One of the clips has 2 male zombies discussing having sex with normals!!! It is also a crime procedural where zombies ask the main character to solve their own murders — which sounds like “Pushing Daisies.”

However weird that sounds, the clips are actually kind of boring. A more silly visual approach might have worked better.

The new season of the venerable Austin City Limits has begun with last week’s pairing of The Decemberists and Explosions in the Sky — creators of the music behind Friday Night Lights. While my initial (i.e. 2002-2003) love of Decemberists has waned in proportion to my hatred of singer Colin Meloy’s voice. However they showcased some prog-rock stuff in this episode that was kinda interesting. (If not only because during extended Moog solos Meloy cayyyrn’t douuewe his thing on the vowarls.)

Well I just checked in on the schedule and to my amazement I see that ACL has booked Wilco on November 3 and Arcade Fire November 10. Who needs triptophan, you can Tivo those for Thanksgiving and bliss out until Christmas…

Speaking of which the anthology of all performances at ACL is a fun little catalog…

People are always asking me “hey Don, how comes youse watch so much TV buddy boy?” (I should stop hanging out with no good punks from the 50s.) I decided I should catalog it for easy reference for such folks. No judging.

What I’m watching (by day)

Sunday

• Desperate Housewives (9pm ABC): I was looking forward to Nathan Filion but so far he’s been wasted. I have no idea why I watch this show except that it is on TV.
• Brothers & Sisters (10pm ABC): Great show.

Continue reading What I’m watching