Summer TV Season

Summer is really starting to be the best season for TV. So many shows, so little time: True Blood, Weeds, Breaking Bad, Big Brother, Project Runway, and Curb Your Enthusiasm are all back for a new season.

Thank god I have a TiVo.

Rent it or see it?

I've fallen out of the habit of going to the movies for everything I want to see, and only make time for films that I've been dying to see or that must be seen on a big screen (such as Inception or Casablanca).

Other films I'm interested in I put in my Netflix queue, which I now realize may take me several years to get through. At least it's cheaper (in theory) and it's a way for me to keep a list of the films (and TV shows) I'm interested in checking out at some point.

I have been strangely drawn to two new comedies lately, though. I have to admit, I'm a sucker for mass marketing when the ads involve Will Farrell. Maybe these aren't as good as they seem, so they'll go on my queue but I could probably be coaxed into the theater to see at least one of them...

Weeds Season 6 Trailer

If you haven't seen season 5 of Weeds (the most recent season on DVD) then to avoid spoilers you shouldn't watch the trailer below.

Weeds is ridiculous and absurd, and the matriarch of the family is one of the most effed-up characters on television. Nevertheless, this show is an amazing train wreck and season 5 was like crack cocaine. It looks like season 6 will be just the same:



PS: I love Andy!!

24: Day 8

Katee Sackhoff is joining the cast --- as Chloe's boss!!

New Almovodar Film!!

Broken Embraces opens in LA on 12/11/09 (in time for my visit to CA for the holidays)! Can't wait!

I have a lot of work to do...

...which of course means, cat video time!! I'm afraid to say it, but my cat is almost as bad as this one:

Mad Men is disappointing...

SPOILERS BELOW

The first two seasons of Mad Men were great; mysteries, inappropriate comments, drinking like fish throughout the workday - fabulous.

But now, as we near the end of the 3rd season, it's unclear what the point is anymore. We get it: suburban life is stifling and the Mad Men early-60s society is on the brink of dramatic change (possibly?). Don Draper is a mean, womanizing bastard who occasionally cuts someone down in a funny way. He's hot; we get it.

I was excited by Betty's discovery last week, only for it to go nowhere. There's the hope she'll confront Don, or at least have another tryst in the bathroom of some NYC bar again, but so what?

The episodes this season have been meandering and incomplete, and it seems like the writers/directors/producers are self-consciously trying to create a meditative or contemplative atmosphere in the show that simply falls flat.

The show gets a lot of accolades, but in the third season it is truly about nothing. Aside from the fabulous Joan, who cares about these people? They are all awful. They've completely ruined the Peggy story-arch by having her screw Ducky... that was so pathetic.

I'm hoping for a comeback, but expecting to be disappointed over the next month!

Radical lawyer, William Kunstler

There are many people I find inspiring, and William Kunstler is one of them. He was a controversial lawyer who represented a wide-range of clients, including the American Indian Movement and John Gotti.

His daughters produced a documentary about his life as a lawyer and a father. Here's the trailer:

Circa 1994

Thanks to Digg for putting this on my radar today.

Let me put it this way

You don't want your A/C to stop working in the middle of July in Arizona. I'm working at home in the midst of it, because no A/C in July with a locked up pet = emergency here. It's been out for about 8 hours now; hopefully fixed soon. They are working on it.

It's 107 outside and Franky is chilling in the bathtub waiting for the heat to subside (poor babes).

Michael & Michael Have Issues

A new Comedy Central show featuring Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter. They are both from The State (if y'all remember that show?). Here's a clip:

Michael & Michael Have Issues	Premieres Wed, July 15, 10:30pm / 9:30c
Fighting for the Intern
www.comedycentral.com
Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

True Blood Season 2!

I get to watch the premiere tonight at a friend's house. Yippeeee!

True Blood

Delicious. I love this show already.

One of the characters said "you're dumber than a box of hair!" - They had to hear that one from Suzie!!

Remember "The State"?

Another day, another cat video

Pearl

I'm sure you've seen this... oldies but goodies:

The Landlord from Will Ferrell

Good Cop, Baby Cop from Will Ferrell

Quantum of Solace

I'm not a huge fan of Bond films, but I'm totally in love with Daniel Craig and thought that Quantum of Solace was awesome. If you like the Bourne films, you'll like this one (now on DVD):

My favorite movie of all time: True Romance

Fresh off completing yet another Facebook meme, I was reminded how True Romance is my absolute unequivocal favorite movie of all time. This is saying a lot, because it beats out some of my other faves like The Godfather (I & II), Apocalypse Now, Casablanca, Chinatown, Run Lola Run, The Big Lebowski, Good Will Hunting and Erin Brockovich.

Here's a trailer:

The future of newspapers is uncertain but surely grim

Who reads the newspaper anymore? I don't know about you, but I surely don't.

The future for newspapers is bleak, but as this well-written comment states, "Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism."

Problem is, journalism doesn't come for free and someone needs to pay for it. The closest to "free" it could be is government-subsidized, but all of us should be fearful of a state-sponsored press. The papers are too deferential to government as it is without the government paying for it outright.

None of the proposed models are working (from ad revenue to paid subscriptions) and people want free, up-to-date information via the Interwebs. Something's got to give, and as the comment points out, it's unclear what might happen:

Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism. For a century, the imperatives to strengthen journalism and to strengthen newspapers have been so tightly wound as to be indistinguishable. That’s been a fine accident to have, but when that accident stops, as it is stopping before our eyes, we’re going to need lots of other ways to strengthen journalism instead.

When we shift our attention from ’save newspapers’ to ’save society’, the imperative changes from ‘preserve the current institutions’ to ‘do whatever works.’ And what works today isn’t the same as what used to work.

We don’t know who the Aldus Manutius of the current age is. It could be Craig Newmark, or Caterina Fake. It could be Martin Nisenholtz, or Emily Bell. It could be some 19 year old kid few of us have heard of, working on something we won’t recognize as vital until a decade hence. Any experiment, though, designed to provide new models for journalism is going to be an improvement over hiding from the real, especially in a year when, for many papers, the unthinkable future is already in the past.

The little web radio station that might

I recently read an article in a local mag about a new web radio station, Radio Phoenix.

They are only broadcasting online right now, but are seeking a license to broadcast on the airwaves. Here's a link to connecting to them online.

I've listened to them a bit and I like it - kind of like a poor man's KCRW but a little more leftist, so we'll see how it goes.

There is certainly nothing like this station on broadcast radio in Phoenix, so I hope they are successful!