In America, today’s the day taxes are due. For the rest of the world, it’s just another Open Thread.
What’s up? Rio and Scream 4 are in theaters this weekend; ABC cancels One Life to Live and All My Children, meaning Susan Lucci’s out of work; Game of Thrones arrives on HBO, and on the date it was promised, too, which is something of a novelty; and Glee is covering Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’, because why not, let’s just jam it all in there, just keep pushing until your back gives out.
Comment of the Week: Brian on Episode #145: Propinquity, Fecundity:
On missing something by tv binging The Wire; I watched all 5 seasons on dvd for every waking hour for two weeks, and I have no idea what the show is about or why you guys gush over it so much. All I remember is some bald dock worker afraid and pissed that giant robots are invading his dock.
Is a Munch-faced knife murderer hunting down the lords of Westeros one at a time, leaving Susan Lucci in line for the throne? Or is there something we missed? Sound off in the comments, for this is your … open thread.
Glee covering Friday is the Ouroboros.
True.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2011/01/reviewing_the_ratings_system.html is a bit old, but Dr. K points out that Showgirls is finally being reconsidered by critics as not being as easily dismissable as once thought. I think you guys were there first.
Atlas Shrugged opens today, guys, come ON now, get with the times!
I’m really not surprised at all about Glee, but I suspect it’s going to be kind of lukewarm at best because the craze will have died down by the time it airs. It’ll be more like, “Oh, I remember that!” than, “Whoa, that’s happening right now!” That’s the thing with scripted shows, it’s harder to be 100% topical- they, by their nature, end up being at least a little behind. Although Family Guy was able to go after Christan Bale pretty fast for his tirade on set…
I never read the book it was based on, but Game of Thrones is probably not going to be all that bad. Starz or somebody also has their own take on Arthurian legend going on at the moment. But anyhoo, Sean Bean is kind of awesome, so if it comes to Netflix, I’ll probably give this one a whirl. Black Death will be in my queue as soon as it’s out on DVD, at least.
Just a minor correction: taxes are due on the 18th this year, not today.
Scream 4 gives me an idea for a horror movie, in which the cast is subjected to watching the same movie over and over again but with different characters going thru the same motions, until they beg for the sweet release of death. This is denied to them until the eventual sequel. Any takers?
Parks and Recs continues to be the best-written show on TV…
For some reason, that reminds me of the punishment the kids at camp Chippewa must endure in Addams Family Values, the Harmony Hut. “But… it’s Disney…” (Mind you, I’m a total Disney fan.)
Some friends and I are having a watching party for the GoT premier. I gave up TV for Lent, and though I haven’t indulged in the super-lame “Sundays don’t count!” junk since I was a teenager… dudes… it’s Game of Thrones! It’s going to be so many layers of epic that the entire internet meme structure will explode!
The crap that Glee’s been doing lately, though, makes me kinda sad that I’ll be watching TV programs again in a little over a week. I’m going to feel compelled to catch up, and I have a feeling I’ll be severely disappointed.
Susan Lucci is overdue for retirement; she probably had a clause in her contract that the shows couldn’t go on without her…
In re: Atlas Shrugged – if we just formulate a strategic plan to bomb every movie theatre in the country showing that film, we could rid the U.S. of the Tea Party menace once and for all…
I imagine there will probably be viewing parties of Atlas Shrugged by various Tea Party and libertarian groups. It’ll be like their personal version of The Passion of the Christ. Just seeing them do that would almost make it worth trying to see. Almost.
Fortunately, it’s not even playing in this town. Safe.
Hey folks, I’m in Korea, which is why you won’t be hearing me on the podcast for a while.
Any pop culture I should check out while I’m out here? Enter a Starcraft tournament? Shock the locals with some hip hop karaoke? Serenade Kim Jong-Il with my rendition of “I’m So Ronery”?
Can you get Ko Hyeon Jeong’s autograph? In a podcast you recommended the Korean soap opera Sandglass which I then checked it out from the library, and it was really good, it’s very similar to The Wire actually just with lots of swelling Godfather-meets-Gone With the Wind music cues and melodramatic zoom ins. It also had the side effect of causing me to fall in fanboy love with Ko Hyeon Jeong, especially when she had her hair cut short and was wearing those fancy business women outfits, mercy!
Wow. You watched all of Sandglass? I’m really impressed. If you’re interested in other Korean historical fiction dealing with that time, I’d recommend “The President’s Last Bang,” which I wrote about on this site a while back.
There’s also a movie specifically about the Gwangju uprising, but it’s not very good.
Hey, Doctor Who is starting up soon, is Mlawski going to do some overthinking of that?