Hello? Anybody there?
Did anything happen in pop culture this week that wasn’t to do with American Idol? If you know of something, then please, god, tell us. Here’s your open thread.
Open Thread for March 13, 2009
It’s been a quiet week in pop culture, my home town…
13 Comments on “Open Thread for March 13, 2009”
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Well how about the John Stewart Jim Cramer interview? It kind of straddles the division between pop-culture and just, like, culture, but it was definitely interesting.
Mickey Rourke is officially in Iron Man 2 as the villain… pretty sweet.
How will Watchmen do in its second weekend? Many have predicted that bad word of mouth from non-fanboys will kill the movie’s BO, and the screenwriter has pretty much acknolwedged this in his open plea for fanboys to see it a second time.
Smells like desperation to me.
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/03/11/watchmen-screenwriter-asks-fans-to-see-watchmen-again/
Can anyone vouch for the opinion of a non-reader who enjoyed or did not enjoy the film? When I saw it, the 3 of us who had read the novel liked it, and the 1 who hadn’t read it did not like it.
Does Bristol Palin and what’s his face (Levi) ending their engagement count?
Scarlett Johansson is officially in Iron Man 2 as well. Get ready for the ladies! (And by ladies, I mean her boobs.)
That Cramer/Stewart interview was awkward to watch, just because Stewart kept nailing Cramer to the crucifix of his own words. I’ll say that, on the whole, I thought the interview kept from veering off into Cramer-bashing territory, but Stewart did get in a few good jabs at him, enough to make the point that I don’t think these two shared a martini at some trendy Manhattan nightspot afterwards (being as I live in South Carolina, I don’t know what the new hip trendy nightspot would be in NYC. My guess is, it’s not a McDonald’s like it is here).
Bristol Palin seperating from her shotgun-wedding finace is news, though not as much as the cringe-inducing moment when Mama Palin muscled in on her daughter’s interview with Fox news a while back (must have been the moose-jaw of Greta Van Sustern that attracted her to the microphone to butt in). Honestly, I am surprised any of the Palins (save Michael of Monty Python) are still being discussed in the media.
_Dancing With the Stars_ started…?
I think the Palins are still “around” because the Republican party doesn’t have any real “figureheads” left. They have no one designated as their true mouthpiece, so they’re kind of testing the waters by hoisting people randomly and holding onto anyone with a “name” as much as they can. I have a theory the Palins are being propped and promoted as the next Bush dynasty, to a certain extent, but with the caveat that it will be a total Puppetmaster kind of deal (similar to how Mama Palin was nominated: to take orders) instead of them (mostly) thinking for themselves.
I’m curious about how _Watchmen_ will do this weekend, too.
How about that _Terminator: Salvation_ trailer (it played during _Watchmen_ for me…)? I hadn’t realized the movie would be about JC (hm…) allying himself with, gasp, A TERMINATOR, as part of his revolution. Is this a cop-out attempt at angst and drama, or could there be some real merit to it?
And another trailer question: So Seth Rogan has a mall cop movie, too? Seriously?
@ Trevor Seigler: I long for the days when you could google ‘Palin’ and get results about Michael Palin on the first page. He’s one of my all time favourite people.
Jon Stewart is another one of my favourite people. I love shows that have both quality analysis and comedy. It’s simultaneously sad and awesome that sometimes you really get the best analysis on comedy shows.
How about the 20th birthday of the interwebs? Gosh, it’s so grown up now! I remember when it was knee-high to a grasshopper. It was so cute with its squawky modems, trying to make its way in the world…
Doll house had an absolutely INSULTING plot hole this week.
So spooky blond security dude has decided that Echo needs to be eliminated, right? He comes across her held at gunpoint in a burning building. What’s a fellow to do? Well, it’s a multi-step process.
1) He shoots the guy who’s about to shoot her, saving her life.
2) He hits her in the head, knocking her unconscious.
3) He leaves, assuming that the fire will finish what he
starteddidn’t startactively prevented from starting.I defy anyone to explain this in terms of plot or character. It’s much easier to explain in terms of lazy writers. “We wanted to demonstrate that he’s evil, but we can’t just have him kill her.” Hacks.
Other than this (which pissed me off, but only for like ten minutes or so) the show has definitely been improving. I still think it’s doomed, but we’ll see… -js
A lot was made back in ’04(?) about how young folks turn to the Daily Show for their news, and how this was “dangerous” because they weren’t being informed by a legit news source. But on the whole, I think the Daily Show does a great job of getting at the root of hyprocrisy in every major news story and, while savaging it humorously, shows what’s really obscene about something. I tuned in to “The O’Reilly Factor” (where they don’t know that the joke is on them), and Bill was saying that the only reason Stewart went after Cramer is because he (Cramer) attacked Obama. No, the reason Stewart went after Cramer and CNBC is because they did nothing to hold the assholes on Wall Street accountable in the months leading up to the financial collapse.
Resident Evil 5 just dropped a couple days ago. I haven’t played it yet (or RE4 even), but I’m guessing the gaming world will be all atwitter later this week.
I hate to be the guy bringing up show-businessey stuff, but these financial considerations largely have a great deal to do with whether shows continue to be around to overthink…
So, speaking of Dollhouse (and T:SCC), both of them actually gained in the ratings last Friday, which is cool, because I think they both have great potential, though they’ve both been underperforming:
http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/03/dollhouse-terminator-improve-slightly.html
@Wade: I’d play it, if I had a PS3. But I don’t. So I won’t. And it makes me sad in my soul. I do have _Umbrella Chronicles_ on Wii and _RE4_ for GameCube, and they’re both pretty rockin’, in my most humble of humble opinions, ahem. _UC_ especially since it sucks you in so effectively by 1)letting you earn something new pretty much every time you get through a scenario, even if you do extremely crap-tastic; and 2) by having the scenario setup in the first place, thus turning it into a bunch of mini-games and making you think, “Oh, I have time for one more…” over and over again until you’re really at like ten or twenty more, the casserole is burning, and you and Dad are late picking up your little sister from her friend’s house. Oh wait, maybe that’s just me…