With all of the terribly cliche british rip off shows and faux-reality business sitcoms flooding our televisions Bob's Burgers comes to the rescue with a surprising secret weapon: animation. We've got to face it, TV sucks unless your down for poisoning your brain with mind numbing reality shows about douche bags or watching horribly over dramatic adults with amazing sex lives. I personally don't enjoy either but I am in love with Bob's Burgers and its cast of amazing comedians.
Bob's Burgers follows the life and times of Bob and his dysfunctional family as they manage their neighborhood burger joint. Every character brings together some unique element and watching them all interact is hilarious. Bob is played by H Jon Benjamin and soothes the soul with his buttery voice, while his wife Linda and her nasally-New-Jersey-Fran-Drescher esque accent provide for an equilibrium of voices. Eugene Mirman plays Gene the creepy younger brother who's fascinated by everything while Dan Mintz plays Tina, the raging hormonal eldest sister. But the secret star of the show is the crazy, manipulative, and conniving Louise, the youngest sibling voiced by Kristen Schaal. Mostly known for her role as the creepy obsessed stalker fan from Flight of the Conchords, but Bob's Burgers really takes her out of her shell and explores her acting talents. Louise is simply crazy and far too intelligent for her age, kind of like Macaulay Culkin but not as douchey.
Bob's Burgers is hard to fit in a nutshell, you'll just have to watch it. It's like a watching a real family interact each with their own strong overbearing personalities, except none of them are real, they're animated. Bob's Burgers is a brilliant show and comes at a perfect time to save TV from kicking out the stool and leaving its fate up to the makeshift noose of terrible reality and mockumentary television shows.
Watch a Full Episode Here
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Something to Listen to On That Long Drive Where You Have Nothing to Think About
Modest Mouse released their first album in 1996, entitled “This is A Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About” and music was finally perfected. Beethoven and Mozart were pretty helpful, the Beatles did their job, but Modest Mouse took the concept of recording multiple songs into a compilation and created an equilibrium of sound that is truly flawless… perfect. The album condenses 16 tracks with ranging ideologies from modernistic philosophies to the analysis of the archetypal ‘prom queen’ to a smooth 74 minutes and 3 seconds. Fuzzy guitars pave the way bending their strings to direct you on a curvy path to audible bliss.
Now Modest Mouse isn’t for everybody, those of you who do not enjoy great music would probably not like this album. A first time listener would experience the slightly lisping Isaac Brock singing tainted melodies and dropping lyrical bombs of knowledge. When the listener reaches the third track “Custom Concern”, and hears Brock lament “I get up just about noon, my head sends a message for me to reach for my shoes and then walk, gotta go to work, gotta go to work gotta get a job” they will reach a level of relation and introspection that is truly rewarding. The album is full of these great lyrics and is our introduction to Brocks signature lyrical style of metaphors and clever word play as found in the hard hitting, unsettlingly melodic “Exit Does Not Exist”.
If you are on a long drive, or you simply don’t have anything to think about, or you just enjoy great music, this album is for you. It’s clever lyrics will get you thinking, while the solid beat and antique sound of the guitars will ease the away the boredom. Listen to the album all the way through and experience life, experience sound, experience the Mouse.
Now Modest Mouse isn’t for everybody, those of you who do not enjoy great music would probably not like this album. A first time listener would experience the slightly lisping Isaac Brock singing tainted melodies and dropping lyrical bombs of knowledge. When the listener reaches the third track “Custom Concern”, and hears Brock lament “I get up just about noon, my head sends a message for me to reach for my shoes and then walk, gotta go to work, gotta go to work gotta get a job” they will reach a level of relation and introspection that is truly rewarding. The album is full of these great lyrics and is our introduction to Brocks signature lyrical style of metaphors and clever word play as found in the hard hitting, unsettlingly melodic “Exit Does Not Exist”.
If you are on a long drive, or you simply don’t have anything to think about, or you just enjoy great music, this album is for you. It’s clever lyrics will get you thinking, while the solid beat and antique sound of the guitars will ease the away the boredom. Listen to the album all the way through and experience life, experience sound, experience the Mouse.
Michael Myers: The Face of Pure Evil (or lack there of)
Halloween is about the baby sister of a known serial killer, Michael Meyers, and her naivity to the story. In the film Michael Meyers murders his whole family with the exception of baby sister Laurie. Laurie grows up in an adopted family and spends her Halloween babysitting like the rest of her friends. Michael escapes from a sanitarium that night and stalks all the baby sitters killing them one by one until a final showdown with Laurie.
John Carpenter’s Halloween is an absolutely excellent horror film. It personifies evil in such a way that it is even more frightening after you leave the theatre. Carpenter imagines evil as Michael Meyers, and truly horrifies the audience by portraying true evil as something that cannot be run from, some faceless emotionless entity that secretly stalks you and prays when you’re least expecting. I still think about the scene where Michael kills Bob by pinning a knife into his chest against a door and just silently watches him dangle there. I believe this scene captures the essence of Michael, that his pure evil is a form of curiosity rather than a lust of blood, and that makes it more terrifying. The idea of evil for no reason other than to exist is a scary existential thought that Carpenter perfectly captured and still resonates with me today. I still remember seeing it as a 10 year old child , it was my first rated-R movie, and I constantly looked over my shoulder and out of windows for a good month horrified that I would see that emotionless white mask just waiting for me to drop my guard.
John Carpenter’s Halloween is an absolutely excellent horror film. It personifies evil in such a way that it is even more frightening after you leave the theatre. Carpenter imagines evil as Michael Meyers, and truly horrifies the audience by portraying true evil as something that cannot be run from, some faceless emotionless entity that secretly stalks you and prays when you’re least expecting. I still think about the scene where Michael kills Bob by pinning a knife into his chest against a door and just silently watches him dangle there. I believe this scene captures the essence of Michael, that his pure evil is a form of curiosity rather than a lust of blood, and that makes it more terrifying. The idea of evil for no reason other than to exist is a scary existential thought that Carpenter perfectly captured and still resonates with me today. I still remember seeing it as a 10 year old child , it was my first rated-R movie, and I constantly looked over my shoulder and out of windows for a good month horrified that I would see that emotionless white mask just waiting for me to drop my guard.
You've Got (another recycled romantic comedy for chicks to eat ice cream to) Mail
I’d like to start off this review by admitting that I hate Romantic Comedies with an intense passion so this review will definitely be negatively biased. You’ve Got Mail follows the generic storyline recycled in shit-tons of movies; character owns small store, hates supporting character who owns large chain store that threatens to take over. Then comes the romance and both characters settle differences and fall in love happily ever after.
First of all, any big budget movie that contains such blatant product placements pretty much screams “I am devoid of any artistic direction or genuine feeling.” That’s where the romantic comedy feminine fanbase comes in. They are so overwhelmed with emotions and the need to see a happy ending between the gorgeous Meg Ryan and handsome Tom Hanks they are willing to completely ignore the AOL advertisement and the depraved story. It’s also funny to me that both Kathleen (Ryan) and Joe (Hanks) in the movie are dating other people but falling in love online. It doesn’t seem very romantic to me to be in a physical relationship but slutting it up in the cyber world. The movie is just way too generic and preachy to be enjoyed, and the characters, although well-acted, are too dull and annoying. The over-obvious sexual tension and mysterious online compatibility makes the viewer want to shout at the screen, “just fuck and end this shitty movie already.” At least that’s what I did. I think I would’ve enjoyed this movie more if Kathleen went all fight club on Joe’s ass and blew up his bookstore and then went on her Facebook and posted a status about it.
First of all, any big budget movie that contains such blatant product placements pretty much screams “I am devoid of any artistic direction or genuine feeling.” That’s where the romantic comedy feminine fanbase comes in. They are so overwhelmed with emotions and the need to see a happy ending between the gorgeous Meg Ryan and handsome Tom Hanks they are willing to completely ignore the AOL advertisement and the depraved story. It’s also funny to me that both Kathleen (Ryan) and Joe (Hanks) in the movie are dating other people but falling in love online. It doesn’t seem very romantic to me to be in a physical relationship but slutting it up in the cyber world. The movie is just way too generic and preachy to be enjoyed, and the characters, although well-acted, are too dull and annoying. The over-obvious sexual tension and mysterious online compatibility makes the viewer want to shout at the screen, “just fuck and end this shitty movie already.” At least that’s what I did. I think I would’ve enjoyed this movie more if Kathleen went all fight club on Joe’s ass and blew up his bookstore and then went on her Facebook and posted a status about it.
Rashomon and the Arbitrary Truth
“Rashomon” is a classic Japanese film from 1950 that set a new standard of storytelling among filmmakers and television producers alike. Directed by Akira Kurosawa, the film depicts a Bandit, Tajomaru, who desperately wants the affection of a samurai’s wife. In the end the Samurai is dead and there are 4 conflicting stories of what exactly happened.
Overall the film is amazing. Its use of light, nature, and philosophy combine together for a truly moving film even 61 years after its birth. “Rashomon” is an ingenious film allegorical to the recent post-modern philosophy and the objective truth. Kurosawa uses water as a metaphor for the inherent arbitrary nature of truth itself. Throughout the scene at Rashomon, where the story is told from each perspective, it pours down rain until the very end. When the bandit Tajomaru is initially captured he falls off his horse near a lake because he drank water from a spring. The symbolism of water is all over the film and water, like truth, has no exact shape. Water is a seamless entity that assumes the shape of its container for it has no shape of its own. If it rains on the ground the water takes the shape of a flat surface; into a glass it takes the shape of the glass, etc. In “Rashomon” the idea of truth is water itself; it only takes the shape of the person presenting it. No character of the film presents the same truth as another character because each character has their distinct differences giving the truth its distinct shape.
I came into "Rashomon" expecting a horribly dated movie but I left with an experience and philosophy I won’t soon forget.
Overall the film is amazing. Its use of light, nature, and philosophy combine together for a truly moving film even 61 years after its birth. “Rashomon” is an ingenious film allegorical to the recent post-modern philosophy and the objective truth. Kurosawa uses water as a metaphor for the inherent arbitrary nature of truth itself. Throughout the scene at Rashomon, where the story is told from each perspective, it pours down rain until the very end. When the bandit Tajomaru is initially captured he falls off his horse near a lake because he drank water from a spring. The symbolism of water is all over the film and water, like truth, has no exact shape. Water is a seamless entity that assumes the shape of its container for it has no shape of its own. If it rains on the ground the water takes the shape of a flat surface; into a glass it takes the shape of the glass, etc. In “Rashomon” the idea of truth is water itself; it only takes the shape of the person presenting it. No character of the film presents the same truth as another character because each character has their distinct differences giving the truth its distinct shape.
I came into "Rashomon" expecting a horribly dated movie but I left with an experience and philosophy I won’t soon forget.
Wonderfalls, The Kiss Army, and the Correlation Between
Wonderfalls’ Wax Lion pilot, like nearly all television sitcoms nowadays, has its strong points, but is overshadowed by its tendency for crappy jokes and poor dialogue. I found myself laughing at the lesbian cheek wiping scene and the ironic hookups that followed, but it was a sort of embarrassed laughter. I wasn’t laughing at the humor in it, but more at the principle that the writers were trying to cash in on cheap laughs for hot lesbians.
As for the strong points of the episode, Wax Lion had great cinematography and CG animation. The extreme close up of the manager’s mouth with spit flying out as she handed out a promotion to an idiot stayed fresh in my mind while the storyline fell short. As I watched, entertained by the complexity of the waterfall god, wax lion, and the brass monkey animation, I all of a sudden thought of the 1970’s rock band Kiss. Known for their outrageous live shows far more than their actual music, I realized the correlation between Kiss and Wonderfalls. Both use the art of skillfully distracting the viewer with entertaining visuals from the package beneath. When you take away the rockets flying out of guitars, the blood, the face paint, and the signature long tongue of Gene Simmons, you’re left with another bland and generic Rock N Roll band with senseless lyrics about sex, and partying. Much like Kiss, when you take away the CG animation and talented direction of photography from Wonderfalls, you’re left with another bland and generic sitcom with senseless dialogue and cheesy jokes so far away from reality its deemed unrelatable.
Maybe if Wonderfalls took a lesson from Kiss and involved gratuitous pyrotechnics and blood it would’ve lasted more than 4 episodes.
As for the strong points of the episode, Wax Lion had great cinematography and CG animation. The extreme close up of the manager’s mouth with spit flying out as she handed out a promotion to an idiot stayed fresh in my mind while the storyline fell short. As I watched, entertained by the complexity of the waterfall god, wax lion, and the brass monkey animation, I all of a sudden thought of the 1970’s rock band Kiss. Known for their outrageous live shows far more than their actual music, I realized the correlation between Kiss and Wonderfalls. Both use the art of skillfully distracting the viewer with entertaining visuals from the package beneath. When you take away the rockets flying out of guitars, the blood, the face paint, and the signature long tongue of Gene Simmons, you’re left with another bland and generic Rock N Roll band with senseless lyrics about sex, and partying. Much like Kiss, when you take away the CG animation and talented direction of photography from Wonderfalls, you’re left with another bland and generic sitcom with senseless dialogue and cheesy jokes so far away from reality its deemed unrelatable.
Maybe if Wonderfalls took a lesson from Kiss and involved gratuitous pyrotechnics and blood it would’ve lasted more than 4 episodes.
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