Wrath of Con, Redux

One of the decisions I made when I first writing here was that I didn’t want it to turn into a diary, or even the slightly more masculine journal. I never wanted it to turn into “Dear Diary: Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy… Today we were kidnapped by hill folk, never to be seen again. It was the best day ever!” (extra geek points awarded for anyone who understood the last sentence) There have been a few times when I have slid uncomfortably close to that format, though hopefully still offering some type of insight/entertainment/value to you, my faithful imaginary reader. Today will be one of those times.

At the end of July I made the trek to Geek Mecca, the orgy of pop culture, sweat, and scantily clad hotties known as the San Diego Comic-Con. Since you are clearly connected to the internet and have taken the time to read at least this far into a blog, it’s probably safe to assume that you are geeky enough to have at least a basic understanding of what Comic-Con is. If not, and if I have not yet scared you back into the safer corners of the web, to return to tending your farm and taking quizzes to determine your IQ, then I guess it would probably be helpful to offer a brief explanation. Comic-Con began as a small convention for fans of comic books to come together to discuss the medium. Over time it gradually grew larger. With the dawn of the internet so-called geeks, the primary attendees of Comic-Con, quickly became an important force for deciding what would be popular. The geeks ran the internet, so if they were excited about a product or property, it would be talked about across the web where the average consumer would be exposed to it and, since everyone seemed to be talking about it, become excited about it too. The media companies took note of this and began previewing their new projects at the con, in the hope that they could get the massive boost in awareness and revenue from hundreds of thousands of geeks talking about there product on the internet. Today, everyone associated with pop culture shows off their new and upcoming products at the con – film and TV studios, videogame publishers, toy companies, and, of course, comic books. Your presentation at Comic-Con can make (District 9, Tim Burton’s Alice) or break (Solomon Kane) a project.

Since I attended the con this year, and since I am acutely aware of the reason for its existence, I feel it is my duty to report on what I was shown, given, and exposed to.

The main attraction of Preview Night is the convention show floor. This massive space is packed with exhibitors all trying to get you interested in their products, most of the time by giving away free stuff, referred to as swag. The first rule of Comic-Con is that you take absolutely anything that is given to you. Starting even before you get to the convention centre, people, usually attractive young women, will be thrusting cards, leaflets, flyers and brochures in your direction. Once you get inside, it gets even more overwhelming, with bags, buttons, books, toys, fans, posters, stuffed animals, anything you can imagine, being given to anyone who will glance in the exhibitor’s general direction. As the attendee your job is to take everything that is offered and sort the wheat from the chaff when you return to your hotel room at the end of the night. Preview Night offers access to the show floor and its myriad wonders with a slightly smaller crowd, allowing you to at least move of your own volition, rather than merely being swept along in the flow of the crowd.

On Thursday the panels begin. There are literally hundreds of panels that take place over the course of the convention, taking place in rooms with capacities between 60 and 8000 people. There is some strategy involved in attending these panels as well. At any given time there are likely between ten and twenty panels occurring, with massive lines that form outside their respective rooms, sometimes hours before the panel begins. Additionally, these rooms are not cleared between panels, meaning many people will go to panels early in the day that they are not interested in just so that they can stay in the room all day and ensure they see a panel late in the day that they actually want to see. Attending panels thus becomes a guessing game where you have to try to balance anticipating how many people will be interested in the panel you want to see, how many will come to earlier panels to see yours, how many will be sitting through your panel to try to see a later one, and what time people will begin lining up in the morning.

On Thursday, our main goals were to see the Tron: Legacy, J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World panels, both of which were in the largest venue, the 8000 seat Hall H. Since Tron was early in the day and Pilgrim was at the very end, we opted to camp out in Hall H all day. We arrived at 7:45 to line up for the first panel at 10:00, landing us roughly in the first 4000 people. Had we arrived 30 minutes later, we would not have made it into the hall. We sat through a total of seven panels.

MegaMind

I had seen the original trailer for this film, which presented it as a typical supervillian fights superhero but is ultimately redeemed story, and was very disinterested in it. The footage shown at the con, however, completely changed my mind. What DreamWorks hadn’t revealed was that Brad Pitt’s superhero character would be killed early in the movie, leaving the villain in control of the world. To me, this makes it a far more interesting story, instead of one we’ve seen many times before.

Buzz: 3/5

Tron: Legacy

This is a project that was launched at the con two years ago when Disney showed some early test footage of a Tron lightcycle race to see if there was any interest in the property. The reaction was so strong that the film was greenlit. This year a lot of new footage was shown, all of which looked impressive visually, though the acting may be a little shaky. Additionally, the audience was recorded for use as crowd noise in the finished film.

Buzz: 5/5

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

A short 3D clip was shown with Johnny Depp in character as Jack Sparrow, which revealed that the plot would revolve around the search for the fountain of youth, and that Selma Hayeck would co-star.

Buzz: 3/5

Haunted Mansion

Moderator Patton Oswalt introduced this one by asking “If there was one Disney franchise you want to see rebooted, what would it be? That’s right, Haunted Mansion.” I originally took this as a joke, as I suspect many in the audience did. The original Haunted Mansion film was such a disaster, I didn’t think Disney would want to touch the property again. The reboot is real, though, and, even better, it’s being directed by Guillermo del Toro, who should be able to bring the prefect touch to the property. This was completely unexpected and became one of the most talked about surprised of the show.

Buzz: 4/5

Battle: Los Angeles

This one is about an alien invasion that takes place in L.A. tomorrow and how we would respond to it. It differs from other alien films in that the humans don’t immediately wheel out their secret super-weapon to defeat the invaders, but instead have to make do with what we actually have. An interesting concept to be sure. The footage shown, however, was anything but. It was all very generic and dull. Hopefully that is due to the need to keep the aliens’ appearance a secret until closer to the release, forcing them to choose from a limited number of clips, but as it stands Battle: Los Angeles is not looking very strong.

Buzz: 2/5

Salt

Salt was set to open the next day and had failed to get any real buzz going through its ad campaign. The Comic-Con panel didn't help. Nothing about it looked interesting, and even having star Angelina Jolie present didn’t improve things.

Buzz: 1/5

R.E.D.

I had seen a very uninspired trailer for this film about retired C.I.A. assassins who go back into business and didn’t plan on seeing the final product. The footage shown at the convention was much more interesting, however, and now I believe it will be worth checking out.

Buzz: 3/5

J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon: The Visionaries

This panel was put on by Entertainment Weekly and wasn’t to promote any specific project. It was just two of the greatest minds working in television and film, talking about whatever they felt like. It was fantastic.

Buzz: 5/5

The Expendables

The entire cast of the film was present, which was pretty cool, as were the behind the scenes anecdotes about the filming and the number of practical effects and stunts present in the film. In fact, the panel was better than the finished film. The two best action sequences in the movie were shown in their entirety, and there were no boring, painfully acted filler scenes.

Buzz: 4/5

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Universal went all out promoting this film at Comic-Con (and everywhere else). They had a massive ad on the side of the Hilton Bayfront Hotel. They had the Scott Pilgrim Experience across the street, featuring free garlic bread, custom t-shirts made by the cast of the film, soundtrack previews, custom flipbooks, and meet and greets with the cast and crew. The panel was just as epic. Very nearly the entire cast was present, they showed tons of clips from the film, and it was incredibly entertaining. Additionally, they handed out button at the beginning of the panel and anyone who received a 1-Up button got to go with the cast and crew to see the film in its entirety immediately after the panel, followed by a mini-concert by Metric. Two additional screenings were held on Friday and Saturday. I made it into the Friday screening and was blown away. It’s a shame more people aren’t taking the time to check out this fantastic film. Universal took a risk by making it, advertised the heck out of it, and it’d be nice to see them reap the rewards so that they’ll take more risks on unconventional films. If you haven’t seen it already, go see this film.

Buzz: 5/5

On Friday we didn’t attend any panels for specific films or shows. In the morning we made our way through the Scott Pilgrim Experience, and then returned to the convention centre to line up for the Joss Whedon panel. After over two hours in line we just barely made it inside. It was an interesting panel, as his always are, and included a surprise appearance by Nathan Fillion. Finally, that evening, we got into the screening of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, where we were literally the last ones to make it inside. I really can’t recommend this film more highly, you really need to go see it, it’s great. Finally, we ended the night by attending Patton Oswalt’s stand-up show at the House of Blues. If you ever get the chance to see him live, don’t pass it up.

Saturday saw our panels split among two venues, the Hilton Bayfront and Hall H, one of the most anticipated panels of the entire convention, and a stabbing.

Leverage

I had no knowledge of the show going into this panel, but when the concept was explained – a group of con artists pull off a different heist each week – I got a little excited. It sounded like it could be interesting. Unfortunately, that’s where the excitement stopped. Their sizzle reel was fairly dull and the ten minutes they showed from an upcoming episode did nothing to encourage me to invest any more time in the series.

Buzz: 2/5

The Venture Bros.

The panel featured the show’s creators and Patrick Warburton (who, I’m pleased to report, did deliver some Kronk lines). All they really had to show from their upcoming season was a sizzle reel, but they still managed to keep the audience engaged for the full hour.

Buzz: 3/5

Let Me In

Let Me In is an adaptation of the fantastic Swedish film Let The Right One In, which was, in turn, based on a book of the same name. I’m a fan of director Michael Reeves, but was still worried the Americanization of this film would destroy it, especially when it was revealed that the studio wanted to change the age of the leads from 12 to full teenagers, which would have destroyed it. Fortunately, they eventually decided against that route, but I was still sceptical, worried that it would be dumbed down or turned into another disposable horror. After listening to the team involved in the project talk about it and watching the ten or so minutes of footage presented, I feel quite confident in saying that this is a faithful adaptation and should be a great film. Additionally, I don’t seem to be alone in having my fears assuaged by the panel, so this seems to a case of a panel really helping a film. Hopefully it’s reflected at the box office.

Buzz: 4/5

Paul

This panel was delayed an hour due to an incident in the crowd in Hall H. It seems there was an argument over a seat shortly before the panel began. Seats were in high demand, since everyone wanted to make it to the Marvel panel, which was scheduled to end the day, and there was still a huge line outside. The argument escalated into a fight, ending with one person being stabbed in the eye-region with a pen. Other attendees managed to restrain the assailant until police arrived, and then witness statements had to be gathered, resulting in the delay.

In Paul Simon Pegg and Nick Frost go on a cross country trip in a Winnebago with an alien, voiced by Seth Green. The clips shown were pretty funny, and with Pegg and Frost as the screenwriters the rest of the film should be equally so. It hasn’t gotten much press in North America yet, but this could be a sleeper hit.

Buzz: 3/5

Cowboys & Aliens

This film from Jon Favreau, starring Harrison Ford (who, in his first Comic-Con appearance, received such a long standing ovation that he appeared to be on the verge of tears) and Daniel Craig, based on a graphic novel, has a similar concept to Battle: Los Angeles: aliens come to earth and humanity must deal with them using the resources actually available to them, but instead of modern times, here the aliens come to the old west. It sounds a little corny, but, judging from the footage presented, it will be treated seriously, and seems to work quite well.

Buzz: 4/5

Captain America

There wasn’t a lot to be said about this project, as it had started shooting a mere five days before the Con, but they did show the dailies from a scene involving Hugo Weaving before he is completely transformed into the Red Skull. Also interesting was the revelation that the film will take place entirely during World War II.

Buzz: 4/5

Thor

The whole cast was present and they presented the new trailer. This is the Marvel film I was most sceptical about, since mixing the mythological elements into the existing Marvel film universe would seem to be a challenge. The trailer made me believe they may have pulled it off.

Buzz: 4/5

The Avengers

Marvel ended it’s panel with a trailer revealing the logo for The Avengers, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. After the trailer was finished, the audience was surprised by Jackson stepping on stage, with rock music blaring, to introduce the existing members of the Avengers – himself as Nick Fury, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. RDJ then took over introduced the new members – Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, and Joss Whedon directing. The group posed for a photo op and then left, promising more in 2011.

Buzz: 5/5

That more or less wraps up Comic-Con 2010. After the convention, we did head up to Anaheim for a couple of days to hit Disneyland, and I just have to offer a quick word of praise for the new show at California Adventure called World Of Color. It is an extremely impressive show that takes place on the park’s lagoon featuring fountains, lights, lasers, projections, and pyrotechnics. To get a sense of the scale, take a look at the video below.

World of Color aerial view.

If you’re in the area, make sure you see this show. If you want to make it in, either get a ShowPass in the first few minutes after the park opens or, as we did, order the picnic lunch online ahead of time ($15). You can pick up and eat the lunch at any time throughout the day and you get access to the show in the evening.

Sleep well,

DTE
____________________
Songs of the moment:
Metric - Black Sheep; Broken Social Scene – Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl; John Murphy – In The House

Music while I wrote:
The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow; The Decemberists – Picaresque

Upfronts 2010: CW

This is my fifth and final entry on the 2010 Upfronts. You can find my comments on NBC, Fox, ABC, and CBS as well.

Thursday marks the fourth and final day of the 2010 Upfront presentations in New York. Today’s presenter, CW, may have had the most exciting presentation, but it had the least material to actually present.

While the rest of the networks made their presentations in hotel ballrooms, the CW rented out Madison Square Garden and featured a Katy Perry concert, looking much more the the upfronts of old when networks would go all out, but that was before this latest recession. Regardless, it at least gave them something to do, since they only ordered two new shows. The shows sound like typical CW fare – beautiful, privileged people in beautiful locations. Hellcats is about a “cool, hip, and alt” girl in pre-law who is forced to join the cheerleading squad, while Nikita is yet another version of La Femme Nikita. The only other announcements were that Supernatural will be rejoining Smallville, but on Friday nights this time, and that Smallville will finally be ending, after two seasons of assuming it would be let go.

That’s pretty much all there is to talk about coming out of the presentation today. Again, if clips or trailers for either of the new shows pop up later today, I’ll link them here. If you haven’t read them yet, check out my (much more in depth) rundowns of the presentations given by the other networks over the last several days by clicking the links at the top. Otherwise, thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll stick around as I return to my regular blogging schedule.

Edit: And here is the last round of completely unispiring clips.

Sleep well,

DTE

Upfronts 2010: CBS

This is my fourth entry on the 2010 Upfronts. You can find my comments on NBC, Fox, and ABC as well.

Wednesday brings with it the fourth of the major Upfront presentations, CBS. This year it’s an interesting combination of both everything and nothing changing.

CBS actually began yesterday evening by announcing the cancellation of seven of it’s shows. None of these cancellations should be very surprising, though, except maybe to CBC, which inexplicably airs Ghost Whisperer several times daily. Cold Case, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, Miami Medical, Accidentally on Purpose, New Adventures of Old Christine, and Gary Unmarried were all given the axe. Considering their ratings had all been tanking of late and many of their leads were working on other pilots, none of these come as a shock.

With the release of it’s new schedule, CBS is looking a lot like the ABC of recent years, in that they have made some very aggressive changes to the time periods of their returning shows. Survivor moves to Wednesdays, Big Bang Theory to Thursdays, CSI: NY to Fridays, and CSI: Miami to Mondays. The idea behind these moves is to take established series and use them as lead-ins for the new shows, hopefully building up the audiences faster than they otherwise would (pressing the channel change button on those remotes is hard!). This strategy has worked well in the past, but has become less effective in recent years as the use of DVRs and online viewing becomes more prevalent.

So that was the part where everything changed – the scheduling of old programs. The part where nothing changed? The new programs, of course. Of the six new series currently ordered by CBS, we have three cop shows (one of them a remake of Hawaii Five-0), a lawyer show, and two comedies.

There’s really not a lot worth saying about any of these new shows, but I’ll offer a few thoughts anyway, starting with Mike & Molly. This is a half hour comedy about an overweight couple who meet at “Overeaters Anonymous”. Clearly, it’s meant to target the increasingly overweight average viewer. However, just where the laughs will be coming from remains in doubt. If it tries to rely on jokes about its leads’ weight, it risks offending the equally overweight audience it is so clearly seeking. If it avoids the weight issues, it becomes just another cookie-cutter sitcom. Neither tactic screams “hit TV show”.

The less said about Hawaii Five-0, the better. It co-stars Daniel Dae Kim, but that’s probably just because he bought that house in Hawaii and doesn’t want to leave. He’s shown much better taste in choosing projects in the past, so I can’t imagine his involvement here is anything more than a convenient pay check and an excuse to keep his house.

Edit: Here's the pretty awful opening credits. They just feel amateur and forced to me.

The Defenders is the requisite lawyer show. But wait, this one’s different! It’s about “colorful Las Vegas attorneys”! That will make it sooo much better. Seriously, though, I think my favourite part of this series is that it will feature a lawyer, played by Jurnee Smollett, who is “looking to put her exotic dancing days behind her”. Yes, that’s a real character, even though it sounds like a made-up role an actor would list when describing the stupidest jobs they’ve ever worked.

Blue Bloods is yet another cop show, about a family of cops. The final cop show is the untitled Criminal Minds spinoff, which will air at midseason.

The final show CBS has added for next year is the much discussed $#*! My Dad Says. See how cleverly they cleaned up that title, making it palatable for the average, middle-American family? Apparently it will be referred to as “Bleep My Dad Says” when spoken of, but I personally like the suggestion that we read it literally as “Dollar Sign Pound Asterisk Exclamation Point My Dad Says”. The show is supposed to be based on the Twitter feed @ShitMyDadSays, where a son who lives with his elderly father posts all the “shit” that his “dad says”. Much of the appeal of this account is that his dad is regularly very profane and offensive. Obviously, as evidenced by the “cleansing” of the show title, this profanity and offensiveness cannot be transferred to network television. Instead all we we’re left with is a show about an curmudgeonly old man who lives with his younger family.

All in all, CBS’ new schedule looks to be the least inspiring of all the majors’ fall line-ups. I’ve been waiting all day to post this, the the hopes that some clips or trailers would be released that I could insert, to no avail. If some do pop up in the next day or two, I’ll come back and edit them in.

Edit: Those clips have finally turned up online here.

I’ll be back tomorrow for the final day of the Upfronts with a quick look at the CW.

Sleep well,

DTE

Upfronts 2010: ABC

This is my third entry on the 2010 Upfronts. You can find my comments on NBC and Fox as well.

ABC has spent most of this season locked in a battle for second place with CBS. While CBS often won in terms of total number of viewers, ABC often came out on top in the more valuable 18-49 demographic. In recent years, ABC has become known as one of the most aggressive schedulers, often moving series’ from established time-slots to find the perfect program pairings. This year, however, they’ve left all of their returning shows in their current timeslots, merely filling in the gaps left by cancelled series’ with new shows. Which shows were cancelled? Pretty much exactly what we already knew: Eastwick, Better Off Ted, The Deep End, FlashForward, Hank, Happy Town, Lost, Romantically Challenged, Scrubs, and Ugly Betty. The only we weren’t sure about (until last week) was FlashForward. It was widely believed that either V or FlashForward would return, to try to fill the Lost sci-fi void, but not both. Personally, I think they made the wrong choice here. Both series got poor ratings, but while V wasted an entire season doing absolutely nothing, FlashForward tried to do big, different things. It almost always failed to pull them off, but at least it tried. Also, on the extremely thin chance either of these series would make it out of their sophomore season, FlashForward has a richer concept which would allow the show to carry on over the long haul. V seems to have already exhausted its writers’ imaginations.

On the new program front, ABC has ordered nine new series. Again, most of them look like pretty standard fare – a couple cop shows, a couple Friends clones, a Shonda Rhimes doctor show, a lawyer show. Similar to what Fox did yesterday, ABC has only provided brief descriptions and a single clip from each show, making it difficult to really evaluate their potential. The word is that ABC is disappointed in its offerings, and from what they’ve shown, it’s not difficult to imagine why. No Ordinary Family sounds like it could have potential, basically a live action version of The Incredibles, but no footage has been released and this type of show is very easy to get wrong (see the last three seasons of Heroes).

Edit: A trailer for No Ordinary Family has now made it's way online. It looks decent but, unfortunately, it also looks like it will be treading dangerously close to many of the things that made the last three seasons of Heroes fail.

(The trailer can only be viewed from within the U.S. Unless you have some sort of I.P. sheild...)

My Generation sounded promising from its description, about a group of high school students from Austin who reunite ten years after graduation, but the footage released is pretty uninspiring.

The only other show that seems to be worth commenting on at this point is Mr. Sunshine. It’s description sounds pretty bland – Matthew Perry stars as a San Diego sports arena manager going through a mid-life crisis. The preview clip for this one, however, sold me on at least checking it out when it makes it to air at mid-season.

And that’s about it for ABC this year. They should do fairly well next year, since they have a solid stable of returning shows, and most of those that won’t be returning will be absent because they had abysmal ratings anyway. There’s nothing on this new schedule, however, that looks like it will be even remotely capable of filling the giant crater that will be left by Lost.

I’ll be back again tomorrow with a look at the new schedule for CBS.

You can find clips for all of ABC’s new shows here.

Sleep well,

DTE

Upfronts 2010: Fox

This is my second post on the 2010 Upfronts. You can find a brief explanation of the Upfronts, as well my first entry, here.

The second network to present at this year’s Upfronts was Fox. As the network which finished this year first in the ratings, few people would expect Fox to make many major changes, and they didn’t disappoint. Next year’s schedule looks a lot like this year’s.

There are a few interesting changes, though. Human Target and The Good Guys, neither of which was expected to return by many, were both renewed, but moved to Fox’s friday night. This time period has been labelled the “death slot”, since there hasn’t been a series that has been able to survive this time period since, I believe, the mid 90s. It’ll be interesting to see how long these two can last there. The only other change really worth pointing out is that Fox will be cutting back on the number of hours of American Idol it airs. The show will now run a “mere” 90 minutes on performance nights and 30 minutes on results nights.

Fox has currently scheduled only six new shows for next year. From the descriptions that have been provided they all seem to be pretty standard fare –a Dallas clone, a family comedy, and “jerk pursues sweet girl” comedy all premiere in the fall, while a Friends clone, an adult animated show, and a cop show from The Shield’s Shawn Ryan are being saved for midseason.

Unfortunately, Fox hasn’t made any of the trailers for their new shows available online yet, so we can only judge them based on their brief descriptions. That being said, none of them sound too promising. At this point the only one I might consider checking out is Ryan’s Ride-Along, based solely on the pedigree. He did a great job with The Shield, but I’m not convinced he’ll be able to create another great cop show within the restrictive confines of network TV. Edit: Some clips have now been made available, which you can see here. None of them did anything to change my opinion of the shows' potential (or lack thereof). The Fox project that was receiving the most buzz going into the last few week was Terra Nova, a series about a family who travels back to prehistoric times, from Steven Spielberg, David Fury, Peter Chernin, and Brannon Braga. With the talent involved it should be worth watching, but Fox says that, because of the extensive effects work required, they’re not sure it’ll be ready for midseason, so it will likely be held until next year (or later).

So not a lot has changed over at Fox. They’re still banking heavily on American Idol and Glee to keep them number one, and that should pay out. Idol is enough of a behemoth that even with the departure of Simon Cowell it should still remain the number one show for at least another season. Glee, meanwhile, will move ever closer to its inevitable implosion but, again, I believe it’s got another decent season in it before it destroys itself, so the ratings will likely remain strong, especially since it will get a healthy bump airing in the post-Superbowl timeslot.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at ABC’s line-up.

Sleep well,

DTE

Upfronts 2010: NBC

This week you can expect to see a flurry of posts here. Actually, it’ll be more like five, but that’s a flurry by the standards of this blog. All week I’ll be looking at the news from the Upfronts and offering my opinions on the decisions being unveiled.

A quick word of explanation for the uninitiated. The Upfronts occur every May. It’s the week where all of the American television networks unveil their schedules for the next year to advertisers. It’s the network’s opportunity to convince advertisers to purchase time on their network, during their shows. It’s important that the network be convincing, demonstrating that they have the best schedule and the “next big thing” since upwards of 80% of all commercial time for the next year will be sold during this week.

NBC got to present first this year. After finishing last in the ratings this year, thanks to a stable of unsuccessful shows, the Jay Leno Show debacle, and the gaping hole it left in the schedule. Word of cancellations began to leak out of NBC late last week and were later confirmed by the network. Two of the biggest cancellations were Heroes and Law & Order. The cancellation of Heroes wasn’t much of a surprise, as it had been experiencing rapidly plummeting ratings, was expensive to produce, and, after a fantastic first season, had seen nearly all of the critics and most of its fans turn on it as it rehashed the same storylines over and over. There are still rumours of a two or four hour miniseries event to wrap up the dangling storylines, but at this point that looks like wishful thinking by the series’ few remaining fans. That Law & Order was dropped is far more surprising. It was no longer receiving strong ratings, and it’s best days were far behind it, but being renewed this year, for its 21st season, would have made it the longest running drama in history. It seems odd that, given all the holes in its schedule, the network wouldn’t have kept it around for one more year.

Edit: It seems there may still be some hope for Law & Order. TNT is reportedly in talks to pick up the show for a 21st season. It seems unlikely, though, as Turner, TNT's parent company, likely won't be able to spend a lot on the deal, thanks to other expensive deals for Conan O'Brien's talkshow and Southland, but you can never count Dick Wolf out...

That’s not the only odd thing about NBC’s schedule. Thursday night was the only day the network had experienced any semblance of success, with its two hour comedy block. So, naturally, they decided to gut this night, moving some shows around (30 Rock an hour earlier) and holding others for midseason (Parks and Recreation).

So, what did NBC do with all their extra space? They’ve ordered twelve news series.

The Event looks interesting, but it seems like it would work best as a miniseries. I’m not sure they’re going to be able to drag this plot into an ongoing series without making it boring.

Undercovers is the new spy comedy from J.J. Abrams. This is a series that I want to like, just because of its pedigree. From the trailer, though, it looks like it will rely too much on bad comedy to make it watchable over the long haul. “Sexpianoge”? Really"?

I love Brittany Snow, but Harry’s Law just looks bad. (Also, can you say asshole on network TV? Don’t think I’ve heard it used before)

It looks like they’ve replaced one lackluster superhero show with another in The Cape. The presence of Keith David and Summer Glau in the cast means I’ll probably give this one a try, but I don’t think it’ll be good.

The rest of the new series are even less inspired. Given what they’ve presented today, it doesn’t look like NBC will be moving from its last place position any time soon.

To see the trailers for all of the new NBC series, click here.

I’ll be back later today with my comments on Fox’s schedule.

Sleep well,

DTE

A Death In The Family

Back in May of last year, I wrote a post here entitled “On Death and Dying”. In it I explained my default reaction to for dealing with death: ignoring it. It’s a tactic that has served me well up to this point. I hypothesized that that might be because I had yet to experience a “real” death, that is, the death of someone I was close to. I ended the post by teasing that I’d probably be writing about death again in about six months. Of course, at the time, I thought I’d be writing about the death of my long time family pet, my dog Tucker. Well, it’s now nearly eleven months later and Tucker is still with us. As about 8:00 tonight, my Grandmother is not.

She had had some health problems in recent years, but nothing especially life threatening. My grandparents spend most of the winter in Arizona, hiding from the harsh Edmonton weather. They returned to Edmonton two weeks ago, and since their return my Grandma has been in some of the best spirits I’ve ever seen her in. On Easter Sunday we all spent the day at her house – both her kids, their spouses, and all of the grandkids, save my brother and his wife. She was thrilled to announce that she and my Grandpa were selling their house and moving into a condo, and she was keen to give away things to all of us. Things she’d made, things she’d bought, things we used to love when we were little, we were digging out memories from all over the place. On Monday, she spent the day with my mom (her daughter), and then had my brother and his wife over for dinner. On Friday, she and my Grandpa went over to my brother’s house for dinner. All in all, a pretty great last week.

At 6:10 tonight, we had just sat down for dinner when the phone rang. I answered expecting, through the magic of Caller ID, to hear Grandma or Grandpa on the other end. Instead, it was a male voice I didn’t recognize, and he asked to speak to my mom. I handed her the phone, and then watched the color drain from her face. The only words she spoke were “Is my mom OK?” and “We’ll be right there”. She hung up the phone and was already in shock, pale, and trembling. She told us that Grandma had had an accident in the hot tub, that the fire department was there, and that she thought she could hear Grandpa screaming in the background. She and my dad left immediately to go to their house.

I stayed behind and took care of contacting everyone and making sure they all knew what was going on. I’m not sure why, but somehow I always knew that this would be my role in any kind of a family emergency. It’s not something that’s ever been discussed, but it’s exactly what happened. By the time my parents had left, I had already decided in my mind what had happened, and I knew that she was dead. I called my brother first, and that was one of only two times I showed any emotion. As I told him what was happening, my voice wavered and cracked a little. Even though the words coming from my lips were just that there had been an accident, in my mind I knew I was delivering a death announcement. I quickly got it under control, and then I was fine. I continued to keep everyone in contact, until 8:00 when I received word that she had indeed passed. She had apparently been in the hot tub in the basement at her house for up to 30 minutes before Grandpa found her. The 911 operator tried to walk him through CPR, but by the time paramedics arrived she was pulse-less. The were able to obtain a pulse eventually, but it didn’t last, and she died at the hospital.

I arrived at the hospital with the rest of the grandkids, and we all paid our last respects. It was during the final prayer that the pastor said that I showed emotion for the second time – a single tear as I could hear everyone else sobbing.

Right now, it’s my emotional reaction, or lack thereof, that I’m dwelling on the most. In my previous post I said that I was afraid of and unsure of how I would react, and now I know. More or less no reaction. It’s not that I’m unfeeling – I truly did love my Grandma. Nor is it that I feel some need to be macho and not express any emotion – anyone who has watched films or TV shows with me knows that I can be a pretty big sap. So, am I in shock? I don’t think so, none of the other symptoms are present. I did have a couple of hours by myself to come to grips with it before it had even actually occurred, perhaps something that everyone else was not fortunate enough to have had. During that time there was some sense of loss, but I was never really hit hard by it. I think the most likely answer is that, like so many other things, I’ve simply compartmentalized it. This time though, as is becoming increasingly common, I can’t even access that compartment when I want to. I’m fairly certain this isn’t going to be healthy for me later in life, but what can I do about it.

Of course, the grief may come later. I’m not sure that I really want it to, though. In my last post, on the subject of grief I wrote:

It’s not even a question of heaven or hell or just disappearing into nothingness.  Where you go when you die is important for the person doing the dying, not those left behind, though you could argue that believing they went to a better place would make it easier on the survivors, I’m not sure it would really make that much of a difference.  Let’s be honest, grief is an essentially selfish emotion.  You’re not really feeling bad for the person who died, your feeling bad because they died - you feel bad for yourself.  Your dwelling on what you’ll miss about them, what your life will be missing, how you will be negatively impacted.  It sounds callous, but I think if we were really honest with ourselves, most people would agree.  Believing the deceased is in a better place does nothing to make your life better, so I don’t foresee it doing much to alleviate the grief.

I still stand by that thinking. I also understand that death is a natural and important part of life. Again, from that previous post I keep referencing:

I also want it to eventually end.  I have no interest in living forever (though as a bit of a tech junkie, I wouldn’t mind getting to see the technology that will be developed in the next few hundred years).  In order for anything to be truly appreciated or worthwhile, it must have an end.  Living forever, whether you were the only one able to do so or if everyone suddenly could, would be pointless and actually depressing.  If someone offered me eternal life, I don’t think it would take much thought on my part before I turned it down.  Continuous youth for a normal lifespan?  I’d take it in a heartbeat, but eternal life, not so much.

So she went without having to live through a long, drawn out, painful illness. The early indications are that she didn’t drown, so it was probably a relatively peaceful death. And she had spent a lot of time during her last week with the people that were most important to her: her family. I guess that sounds like about as much as any of us could ask for.

Sleep well,

DTE
____________________
Songs of the moment:
The Dandy Warhols – Blackbird; Mike Doughty – 27 Jennifers; Ben Folds Five – One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
Music while I wrote:
Michael Jackson – Number Ones

This might be what happens. Maybe.

I spent a while trying to come up with an appropriate title for my annual Oscar predictions post. Okay, so it was probably less than a minute, but still, time was spent. The last two Oscar post have had ‘persona titles’ – arrogant in 2008 and pretentious in 2009 – so I decided to continue that trend with a meek title this year.

With that out of the way, lets get to the actual predicting. As I’ve already mentioned, I saw a personal record number of films this year, many of them among the nominees. Does that give me an advantage this year? I’d like to think so, especially given my somewhat poor performance in the last two years. In reality, however, my odds are probably about the same as they always are, slightly better than even.

I’ll list each category and its nominees. The film which I think will receive the Oscar will be highlighted in RED. In the instances where I think the most deserving film will lose, I will highlight the film I feel should win in BLUE. Alright, lets get started.

Best Picture

'Avatar'

'The Blind Side'

'District 9'

'An Education'

'The Hurt Locker'

'Inglourious Basterds'

'Precious'

'A Serious Man'

'Up'

'Up in the Air'

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow

'The Hurt Locker'

James Cameron

'Avatar'

Lee Daniels

'Precious'

Jason Reitman

'Up in the Air'

Quentin Tarantino

'Inglourious Basterds'

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges

'Crazy Heart'

George Clooney

'Up in the Air'

Colin Firth

'A Single Man'

Morgan Freeman

'Invictus'

Jeremy Renner

'The Hurt Locker'

Best Actress

Sandra Bullock

'The Blind Side'

Helen Mirren

'The Last Station'

Carey Mulligan

'An Education'

Gabourey Sidibe

'Precious'

Meryl Streep

'Julie & Julia'

Best Supporting Actor

Matt Damon

'Invictus'

Woody Harrelson

'The Messenger'

Christopher Plummer

'The Last Station'

Stanley Tucci

'The Lovely Bones'

Christoph Waltz

'Inglourious Basterds'

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz

'Nine'

Vera Farmiga

'Up in the Air'

Maggie Gyllenhaal

'Crazy Heart'

Anna Kendrick

'Up in the Air'

Mo'nique

'Precious'

Best Animated Feature Film

'Coraline'

'Fantastic Mr. Fox'

'The Princess and the Frog'

'The Secret of Kells'

'Up'

Best Original Screenplay

Mark Boal

'The Hurt Locker'

Quentin Tarantino

'Inglourious Basterds'

Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman

'The Messenger'

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

'A Serious Man'

Peter Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

'Up'

Best Adapted Screenplay

Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell

'District 9'

Nick Hornby

'An Education'

Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche

'In the Loop'

Geoffrey Fletcher

'Precious'

Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

'Up in the Air'

Best Foreign Language Film

'Ajami'

Israel

'El Secreto de Sus Ojos'

Argentina

'The Milk of Sorrow'

Peru

'Un Prophète'

France

'The White Ribbon'

Germany

Best Original Score

'Avatar'

James Horner

'Fantastic Mr. Fox'

Alexandre Desplat

'The Hurt Locker'

Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders

'Sherlock Holmes'

Hans Zimmer

'Up'

Michael Giacchino

Best Original Song

'Almost There' from 'The Princess and the Frog'

Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

'Down in New Orleans' from 'The Princess and the Frog'

Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

'Loin de Paname' from 'Paris 36'

Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas

'Take It All' from 'Nine'

Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston

'The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)' from 'Crazy Heart'

Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Documentary Feature

'Burma VJ'

'The Cove'

'Food, Inc.'

'The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers'

'Which Way Home'

Best Documentary (Short Subject)

'China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province'

Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

'The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner'

Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher

'The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant'

Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert

'Music by Prudence'

Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett

'Rabbit a la Berlin'

Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Best Short Film (Live Action)

'The Door'

Juanita Wilson and James Flynn

'Instead of Abracadabra'

Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström

'Kavi'

Gregg Helvey

'Miracle Fish'

Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey

'The New Tenants'

Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Best Short Film (Animated)

'French Roast'

Fabrice O. Joubert

'Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty'

Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell

'The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)'

Javier Recio Gracia

'Logorama'

Nicolas Schmerkin

'A Matter of Loaf and Death'

Nick Park

Best Art Direction

'Avatar'

Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair

'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'

Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith

'Nine'

Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim

'Sherlock Holmes'

Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

'The Young Victoria'

Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Best Cinematography

'Avatar'

Mauro Fiore

'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'

Bruno Delbonnel

'The Hurt Locker'

Barry Ackroyd

'Inglourious Basterds'

Robert Richardson

'The White Ribbon'

Christian Berger

Best Costume Design

'Bright Star'

Janet Patterson

'Coco Before Chanel'

Catherine Leterrier

'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'

Monique Prudhomme

'Nine'

Colleen Atwood

'The Young Victoria'

Sandy Powell

Best Makeup

'Il Divo'

Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano

'Star Trek'

Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow

'The Young Victoria'

Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Best Film Editing

'Avatar'

Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron

'District 9'

Julian Clarke

'The Hurt Locker'

Bob Murawski and Chris Innis

'Inglourious Basterds'

Sally Menke

'Precious'

Joe Klotz

Best Visual Effects

'Avatar'

Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones

'District 9'

Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken

'Star Trek'

Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Best Sound Editing

'Avatar'

Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle

'The Hurt Locker'

Paul N.J. Ottosson

'Inglourious Basterds'

Wylie Stateman

'Star Trek'

Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin

'Up'

Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Best Sound Mixing

'Avatar'

Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson

'The Hurt Locker'

Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett

'Inglourious Basterds'

Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano

'Star Trek'

Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin

'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'

Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

So, that’s about it. We’ll see what my final score is in a few weeks. Remember, the Oscars will be broadcast on ABC on March 7. See you then.

Sleep well,

DTE
____________________
Songs of the moment:
Dishwalla – Counting Blue Cars; Meiko – Boys With Girlfriends; Erin McCarley – Love, Save the Empty
Music while I wrote:
Brave Saint Saturn – So Far From Home

An Addendum

I just wanted to do a quick follow-up post to my Best Films of 2009 because of a question I’ve already received a few times. I keep getting asked which films you should go see that you’ve probably never heard of. A few of these made it onto my lists, but there were others which, though not worthy of a top ten position, were definitely worth seeking out. So, briefly, the films you probably overlooked in 2009 that are still worth seeing:

- Fanboys

-Push

- Adventureland

- Brothers Bloom

- (500) Days of Summer

- The Informant!

- Whip It

- Pirate Radio (The Boat the Rocked)

- Fantastic Mr. Fox

- Brothers

- Imaginarium of Doctor Parnasus

- Funny People

- World’s Greatest Dad

- The Box

Oh, and take a look at this:

I love that commercial. And since it’s running in Canadian theatres, it kinda, almost fits here.

And with that, I’ll try to refrain from talking about films for a while. At least until the Oscar nominations are announced on February 2.

Sleep well,

DTE
____________________
Songs of the moment:
Cold War Kids – Hang Me Up To Dry; Matthew Good – Last Parade; Switchfoot – Mess of Me
Music while I wrote:
John Williams – The Music of John Williams

Movie Roundup: The Best and Worst of 2009

So, it’s finally time for my year end rundown of the films I saw during the past twelve months. It’s a little late this year, as I wanted to see Sherlock Holmes before writing, just in case. Turns out, as I expected, I needn’t have bothered waiting, as it was a perfectly average film, not deserving of inclusion on any of my lists. That being said, these lists are culled from the 50 films I saw that were released theatrically in 2009. While that number is still down from the norm, it was a particularly good year for me for back catalogue titles, as I saw an additional 55 titles on DVD and Blu-ray that I had not previously viewed.

Now, without further ado, the lists.

Most Surprising:

Fanboys – With all of the script and production problems this film faced, I didn’t expect much. What we got, however, was a surprisingly poignant love letter to Star Wars and it’s fans. It doesn’t laugh at geeks (ala Big Bang Theory and Chuck) but rather with them.

Push – Dumped in February, marketed as a third rate action flick, this is one that most people missed, which is too bad. It has some great performances, fantastic visual flair, and an intriguing premise. A few script problems (and the lack of an audience) are all that kept this from becoming the franchise it could have been.

Whip It – Initially I had no interest in seeing this film, as it looked like another banal “girl power” attempt, this time from Drew Barrymore, who I’ve never been much of a fan of. Their Comic-Con presence, however, convinced me to check it out, and I’m glad I did. The story is fairly paint-by-numbers, but there are some interesting twists, and it’s not nearly the chick-flick it was marketed as.

Adventureland – Marketed as another typical teen sex romp, I didn’t expect anything. Audiences, burned out on Judd Apatow films, stayed away, which is really too bad. The film bears more resemblance to a John Hughes film than anything else. Truly moving and real, this is one that should have been a hit.

District 9 – This is another film that I went to see mainly because of its fantastic Comic-Con presentation. Made on a miniscule budget, this is one of the best sci-fi films of the decade.

Most Disappointing:

Men Who Stare At Goats – Could have been a really funny film, and it had the actors to pull it off, but the script just wasn’t there. Never really found its footing.

The International – What could have been a tight, international thriller became nothing more than a boring, drawn out game of cat and mouse thanks to and overly vague plot.

Duplicity – It wanted to be a splashy heist film in the vein of the recent Ocean’s 11 films, but it had one too many twists for its own good and couldn’t quite convince the audience to care.

9 – Great, stylistic animation and a post-apocalyptic story should have made this an easy win. Instead, despite its relatively short runtime, it felt bloated, with too many obvious signs of padding, and was filled with uninteresting characters.

Wolverine – The first two X-Men films were great. Then Brett Ratner came in and destroyed the franchise. Wolverine had the potential to return it to its glory. Instead we got awful dialogue, a plot that didn’t make sense, and a mutant freak version of Deadpool with his mouth stitched shut. That’s how deeply the creators didn’t understand the source material. They took a character whose chief defining trait is his banter (he’s called the “merc with the mouth” for a reason) and took away that trait.

Worst films of the year:

Honourable Mention: Ninja Assassin – This gets an honourable mention because it really is a film no one should bother seeing, but it also did exactly what it wanted to. It was supposed to be completely over the top, almost silly levels of violence and ninja action, taking the wildest scenes from every ninja film and combining them into one whole. It did precisely that, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth seeing.

5: Underworld 3 – A story that had already been told far more effectively in the second film, a clunky script, actors who can’t act, and sets that look like they came from a high school drama class.

4: Fired Up – Not a funny line to be found, combined with a plot that even the most casual viewer will have figured out in the first ten minutes. Not a single reason to see it, unless it’s to avoid seeing something further down on this list.

3: Year One – Jack Black as Jack Black, Michael Cera as Michael Cera. Another “comedy” lacking any humour. The premise had potential, but the script squandered it all.

2: Wolverine – Trouble started early on this film, with rumours of studio interference. Then it was leaked early on the internet and everyone hated it. The studio assured us that the leak was a very early print and the the final version was much different and much better. When the final version came out, it was identical to the leak, with the exception of some really poor CG being inserted in the greenscreen shots. The fact that it made a ton of money makes me weep for humanity.

1: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – There’s really nothing to add to my original review, so I’ll just quote it here:

“This is what happens when you let Michael Bay work without adult supervision. I describer the first Transformers as big, loud, dumb, and fun. This one is bigger, louder, and completely brain-dead. Worst of all, it lacks any of the original’s fun. I didn't expect Shakespeare, but I also didn’t expect to be bored for large portions. The visual effects here are great, and there are three really good fight scenes (even if one of them goes on about 20 minutes too long), Megan Fox runs in slow-mo several times (and that’s not me being a pervert, they’re actually some of the better moments of the film, which says a lot about how poor the rest was) and the banter between Lebeouf and Fox is entertaining. The rest of the dialogue is at an elementary level, it’s almost completely lacking a plot, about 45 minutes too long, and it’s filled with elements that make you scratch your head wondering how anyone ever let them make it into the final film, like robot testicles and the ridiculously racist black caricature Twins. But it’s all unabashedly Bay - wall to wall explosions targeted squarely at the lowest common denominator. While The Dark Knight raised the sophistication of the summer blockbuster to heights not seen for decades, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen drags it back down to new depths.”

Best films:

Honourable Mention: Up in the Air – This one gets an honourable mention because I couldn’t stand the idea of it not being included in my “best films” list, but the truth is that there were ten better films this year. That being said, this is still a film you should check out. A great script exploring interesting ideas.

11: Hurt Locker – A look at how different people respond to addiction, this film follows a bomb squad in Afghanistan. Everything here is great, from the script to the acting to the directing.

10: Avatar – While the plot is fairly basic, it is more than made up for in the fantastic visuals. This film will change the way blockbusters are made for at least the next decade. Go see this in 3D, and in IMAX if you can.

9: Coraline – In a great year for animation, this was one of the standouts. A dark, suitably adult story which can still be enjoyed by older kids. This is a beautiful film, highlighting the very best of modern stop-motion techniques.

8: Zombieland – The Comic-Con presentation sold me on this film, convincing me it had more to offer than the gags shown in the trailer. A deeply funny film, definitely worth checking out.

7: Adventureland – All that was great about John Hughes’ films is present here in this nostalgic, affecting, and subtly funny film.

6: District 9 – A return to true science fiction, as opposed to the action movie in space. This film looks at human rights in the third world through the lens of a race of aliens trapped on earth.

5: Star Trek – J.J. Abrams directs this film to perfection, updating the all but dead Star Trek franchise. Sure, it’s not as cerebral as District 9 or Moon, but it’s a whole lot of fun.

4: Moon – A terrific performance by Sam Rockwell, this film looks at what is means to be human, as well as the effects of isolation. Stark visuals and an excellent script round out the package.

3: Fantastic Mr. Fox – In contrast to the slick stop-motion of Coraline, this film uses some of the oldest stop-motion techniques , for a truly handmade feel. Full of Wes Anderson’s quirky humour, this is a film about a midlife crisis for adults which kids can still enjoy.

2: Inglourious Basterds – Filled with Tarantino’s trademark dialogue and eye for fantastic visuals, this is not at all the war epic the trailers make it out to be. It is, however, one of his best films and one that really needs to be seen.

1: Up – For the second year in a row, I feel the best film of the year came from Pixar. The opening sequence alone, where they manage to introduce a character and make you care about her enough that when she dies literally five minutes later there’s not a dry eye in the house, is enough to earn it this position. The rest of the film is filled with great character work, beautiful animation, and pitch-perfect humour. One of Pixar’s all-time best, and not to be missed.

Well, that’s it. Not too much in the way of trends on the lists this year. It seems that Comic-Con motivated me to see some really great films I likely would have otherwise missed. I’m also a little surprised that so many of the films on my “Best” list were major studio releases. Typically there’s more representation from the indie scene. But hey, there’s nothing wrong with the big studios actually making good films. ‘til next year.

Sleep well,

DTE
____________________
Songs of the moment:
Cold War Kids – Hang Me Up To Dry; Matthew Good – Last Parade; Switchfoot – Mess of Me
Music while I wrote:
Switchfoot – The Beautiful Letdown

New Year’s Eve

Just a quickie today. (Okay, are you done snickering? Good. Now get your mind out of the gutter and let’s continue.) I’ll be back soon with my annual (highly anticipated) list of the best and worst films of the year, but I have about 6 more I want to see before I can close out the year 2009. Today, though, I’m going to do something I never do, mostly because it usually irritates me when others do it, but it seems appropriate. I’m simply going to post the lyrics to a song which, not surprisingly, was on my mind last night, and which I feel has particular relevance this year. It’s kind of obscure, but well worth seeking out to listen to.

New Year’s Eve
Five Iron Frenzy 

It's New Years Eve and I'm full of empty promises,
I half pretend to keep this time, just like last year.
The band is loud and I'm wandering the shadows,
wishing I was never here.
I persevere.
A crowded room, these whitewashed tombs,
they raise their glasses high, they kiss the past goodbye.

This New Years Eve, I'm waiting for tomorrow.
My heart is on my sleeve,
and yes I still believe, this New Years Eve,
will turn out better than before,
I'm holding on, still holding out,
until they close the door... on me.

It's New Years Eve and I feel my insecurities,
are haunting me like ghosts, this sinking quicksand.
And then with thunderous praise and lofty adoration,
a second passes by, yet nothing changes.
I hate my skin, this grave I'm standing in.
Another change of years, and I wish I wasn't here.

A year goes by and I'm staring at my watch again,
and I dig deep this time,
for something greater than I've ever been,
life to ancient wineskins.
And I was blind but now I see.

This New Years Eve, something must change me inside,
I'm crooked and misguided, and tired of being tired.
This New Years Eve, I'm waiting for tomorrow.
My heart is on my sleeve, and yes I still believe, in You.

Sleep well,

DTE
____________________
Songs of the moment:
Miss Li – Bourgeois Shangri-La; Tegan & Sara – Call It Off; Matthew Good – Last Parade

Music while I wrote:
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz