Note: Video taken from rickey.org. Thanks Rickey!

Am I the only CHUD.com regular who watches So You Think You Can Dance? At times it seems that way. Whatever.

SYTYCD season 6 is on its third performance week and despite a few complaints, I am absolutely loving it an I’ve found it vastly better than season 5 (the season that almost made me want to permanently stop watching this wonderful show).

The reasons why I thought season 5 was like a black hole have nothing to do with the dancers. They were all brilliant, but:

1. Season 5 lacked variety, not only in the styles assigned to the dancers, but also in the styles being represented by the dancers. I think it was 2 salsa dancers, one ballerina, one ballroom dancer, and the rest were contemporary dancers. Monotonous!

2. Aside from salsa dancer Janette (my favorite), there were no surprises. They were all technically so good -particularly the top 10- that there seemed to be no room for growth, everybody got in Mary Murphy’s hot tamale train almost indiscriminately, and after a few weeks it got kind of boring.

3. The finale was set in the Kodak Theater, which gave the big honchos the idea for the new stage.

Yes, let’s talk about the new stage for a minute.

Old stage…

New stage.

It seems only the producers like the new stage. I think it has its pros and cons, but I prefer the old stage. I love the the new stage's giant back screen. I think it adds a lot to the performances. Also, the lighting is much better now. But the new stage is a bloody cave! It completely isolates the studio audience and it limits camera angles and coverage.

But enough bitching. Aside from the stage, season six has some great improvements:

1. Finally we’re getting some variety. The season has dancers representing hip hop, jazz, contemporary, ballroom and tap (sadly, all tappers have already been eliminated). And the inclusion of SYTYCD Canada choreographers has also provided variety to the show. We finally got Afro Jazz. Producers: How about some Dancehall, Capoeira and House?

2. Only 3 dancers have made it to the hot tamale train. Good on you, Mary!

3. The addition of Adam Shankman as a permanent judge. His comments are always very insightful and even if the dancers do well, he gives advice to advance their growth.

4. There are wonderful surprises this season.

Season six recruited the first Krumper and first Tappers in the history of the show… Actually, SYTYCD Canada was the first to have a Krumper (female!) and a Tapper (The wonderful Everett, he was top 4), but it is the first time for the US version, so I guess it is a valid statement.

But the biggest surprises have come from 4 dancers. Russell the Krumper who seems to be able dance anything (though he’s had some serious bad luck picking routines). Ashleigh, the ballroom dancer who made it to the top 20 because another dancer dropped off at the last minute, has been absolutely fantastic so far. And my two favorites, the couple I’m officially pimping this season:

Kathryn and Legacy. Kathryn is a fairy. Legacy is half feline, and based on the top 16 performance, he also defies gravity.  Heehee...silly me! 

Kathryn was basically invisible as a dancer (yet another contemporary dancer…) and was hated for her high pitch voice when she cries. And despite being an incredible bboy, Legacy did kind of bad during Vegas week. It seems to me these two where put together because they were the most likely to leave early in the season and they didn’t even compute in my mind until their first performance, a hip hop that changed many people’s minds, including mine.

 And from then on, they’ve killed every routine.

Voting for the underdog because he (or she) is the underdog is as pathetic as voting for someone because he (or she) is pretty. But, in the case of this type of competitions, when the underdog proves everybody wrong and delivers is when magic happens. And Kathryn and Legacy have delivered big time.

They get to dance a Paso Doble next week. Yikes! If they kill it, they’ll get some serious momentum. Hopefully they’ll do well.

So yeah, I’m pimping Kathryn and Legacy. I’m pimping them hardcore! And if any kind soul can spare some votes for them on my behalf, I’ll be eternally grateful, for I’m in Colombia and I can’t vote.

Speaking of Colombia, Legacy is Colombian! I must admit that I’m the least patriotic Colombian ever, but when I read that he’s Colombian, I was like “Yeah!”, fist in the air and all.

Until next time… Vote for Kathryn and Legacy!

A little background first: In one of my first blog entries for CHUD.com, I mentioned something about my very first job as an editor being the beginning of the end of my film career. And it was, not only because of the magnificent amount of contacts I lost, but also because of what it did to my mind (basically, that failure turned my brain into a prune). Needless to say, the depression that followed was deep and long and not fun at all.

Anyway, part of the perks I was going to receive from that first job, aside from simply being employed, was the promise of further Avid training in order to hopefully get Avid certification. That was about 4 years ago.

In case you don’t know, and despite what Avid advertizes, being an Avid Certified Editor or User guarantees NOTHING. Well, it lets potential employers know you can really use the editing system, but it doesn’t make you a better editor, or more creative, and it definitely doesn’t guarantee you’ll permanently exit the vast wasteland that is unemployment/freelancing/part-time soul crushing employment.

But at the beginning of this year I thought I should try to get my Avid certification, just to prove myself that I could.

So I made myself absent from CHUD.com and life in general to prepare for the dreaded exam. I took that exam this Friday. I was aiming for an 80% passing score, nothing more.

Fortunately I got a much higher score. So yeah, I’m officially an Avid Certified whatever, or at least I will be as soon as I get the certificate. It feels good to know that I wasn’t completely idiotized by my very first job.

And the thought of one day facing my former evil employer, shoving my certificate on his face and yelling “EAT THAT BITCH” = Priceless.

So now it is time to figure out what to do next, make two kimono jackets, read a bit more, write a hell of a lot more, make the District 9 t-shirts I promised some nice people I’d make , get fit, and reconnect.

This week I’ll bug those who care with two installments of Autumn Detritus, one dedicated to dissecting the new V, and one dedicated to the 6th season of So You Think You Can Dance. After that, I’ll go back to regular Autumn Detritus reviewing.

Thanks for reading. I missed the CHUD blogging!!

Until next time… Live Long and Prosper

Also, despite my ego taking a massive beating recently, apparently it is strong enough to make me believe anyone cares about what I have to say. Whatever.

I will be extremely busy in the next month, so I’ll try to post as regularly as possible (meaning, I’m not sure how often I’ll post, but I’ll try to make it a weekly thing).

So, let’s do this!

Warning # 1: By reading this, you might die of chronic boredom.
Warning # 2: It will be infested with spoilers.
Warning # 3: My stupid opinions are just that – stupid opinions. If at any point they seem patronizing, then… what? They are stupid opinions. Just ignore them and move on.
Warning #4: Yes, I copied the warnings from Audiovisual Summer of Doom because I was too lazy to write new warnings.

In this installment: Models, Weirdoes, Dancers, and Bloodsuckers. By the way, I was going to review the brand spanking new Melrose Place but I just can’t bring myself to watch that thing.

Fringe season 2 premier

The cow is back! Woo!

I won’t comment much about this episode in general because I thought it was good. The team is getting proactive, Walter is as crazy as ever… It’s all good.

But there’s something about this episode I’d like to comment about: The Charlie situation.

Olivia’s partner, Charlie (played by Kirk Acevedo) has become quite a beloved character. The love factor is increased tenfold by the fact that Kirk Acevedo is a Brother (as in, he was in Band of Brothers). So when rumors started circulating about Charlie being killed off and Kirk Acevedo getting the boot, the screams of protest plagued (in text form) every corner of the web. Even I went all Mary Murphy and yelled “YOU DO NOT KILL A BROTHER! NO YOU DON’T!”

Well, Charlie’s “death” occurred in this episode and it wasn’t so bad. But whoever leaked information about Charlie’s death is an idiot. His death, or to be more specific, the death of the Charlie from Fringe’s main reality/universe, could have been a very surprising twist, sort of like a slap across the face. Instead, it was totally expected. That being said, I liked the idea of Charlie being killed and “duplicated” by a shape shifter super soldier from another reality. At least we still have Kirk Acevedo as one of the baddies, and also as the scarred alter Charlie (or, as the fans call him, “Scarlie”). But if it turns out Kirk Acevedo will be kicked out of the show permanently and replaced by that new silly FBI agent, I’m all for some serious boycotting.

By the way, the shape shifter’s shifting was outstanding.

Eew...

When it comes to shape shifting on the tele, the usual thing to do is to use morphing. But in this case, the guy deforms his own face with his hands, shoves a metal contraption into his palate, does the same to his victim, and proceeds to “shock” himself into a new appearance. I think this is a pretty innovative approach to something done before countless times. And on the plus side, the first transformation occurred in a living room while an episode of The X Files was on a TV. Silly people…

In conclusion, this episode was a good season beginner. Oh, how I’ve missed my weekly fix of all things crazy.

About So You Think You Can Dance…
For this fall series I’ve decided not to review So You Think You Can Dance and its Canadian counterpart. I’ve already made it abundantly clear that I love the Canadian show and I think that despite featuring incredible talent, the American show is firmly starting to jump the shark.

Instead, I’ll post my favorite dances of the week (if I find video for them). So --

Here are the dances of the week:
So You Think You Can Dance is currently airing its boring audition episodes so the videos for this week come from Canada.

SYTYCD Canada began a while ago, so I’ve chosen a routine from episode 6 (afro jazz) and episode 12 (house). Enjoy!

The Beautiful Life (TBL) – Haven’t we seen this before?

...a blond Gilmore Girl?

Yes we have! It was called Models Inc., which was a primetime drama that aired in the 90’s and ended up being more like a telenovela than a drama. Models Inc. was the type of show that makes you feel completely ashamed for watching it but you just can’t help yourself; a guilty pleasure, as some might say. And I’m sure The Beautiful Life will be as much a guilty pleasure as Models Inc. was back in the days.

TBL features the same clichés that Models Inc. shamelessly exploited: The innocent farmer girl making it big in the modeling world, the model with a big scary secret, the burned out super model, and the British model with an attitude… TBL is basically a modernized version of Models Inc. but with better production values and set in New York.

The acting is competent enough. But the highlight is Mischa Barton as Sonja, a diva supermodel with a secret daughter and some serious issues. Sara Paxton also does a decent job but she’s so freakishly similar to Alexis Bledel from Gilmore Girls that It`s almost disturbing. Those two look like twins and they’re both Hispanic, but they're not related. That’s just too weird.

That being said, I found myself more fascinate with the guest actors than with the main cast.

Oh my Gods, it’s Jaime Murray, Dexter’s psycho pyromaniac ex!

Oh my Gods, it’s Conrad Pla from Regenesis (one of my favorite shows ever)!

Oh my Gods, it’s Nico Archambault, winner of So You Think You Can Dance Canada Season 1, and he’s shirtless! Woohoo!

All in all, the show was alright and hopefully it will improve in the coming weeks and not take the creepy melodramatic path Models Inc. took in the 90’s.

The Vampire Diaries

Why are you looking at me like that? I still love you, Redeemer...

I so don’t need romance in my life right now (in any capacity) but I must admit I am mildly amused by this show, which is at its core all about pure teenage hormonal love. And therein lies the only problem I have with it (aside from the cheesy non diegetic music from the pilot’s opening sequence and the very convenient use of fog when the big baddie shows up), which is also the reason why I refuse to watch anything related to Twilight: I hate teenagers. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part I really hate them. I hated being a teenager back in the days. I hated kids my age back in the days. I hate how the majority of teenage behavior is dictated by hormones and not one bit of brain function. Teen comedies can be really fun, but dramas? I don’t think so. Except for Gossip Girl. So the idea of people stuck as teenagers for eternity creeps me out like you wouldn’t believe.

But I saw the pilot and I thought it was alright. The story indulges in a few clichés, and it’s already been made perfectly clear that there was a love triangle between the two vampire brother (played by Ian Sommerhalder from Lost and the very pretty Paul Wesly from Fallen), a love triangle that will come back to life thanks to Elena’s resemblance to the original female component of this triangle; which is totally annoying because love triangles are just SO tiresome. The pilot had its darkish moments but it mostly felt like a supernatural chick flick. But by the end I sort of developed a serious case of morbid curiosity, so I’ll be checking it out again. Hopefully it will find its footing and end up not sucking.

Ha, sucking! Because it’s about bloodsuckers… I’m so lame.

And now, the YouTube video(s) of the week:
Colombian television is plagued with telenovelas, crappy imitations of reality shows, and news reports about Chavez and Correa trying very hard to discredit President Uribe.

But in the early-mid 90’s, there was show that turned everything on its head. It was called La Tele, a show that was merciless in its approach to criticism of Colombian society and normal day-to-day everything; a show that was eventually shut down because of its raw irony, humor, and brutal honesty. Oh, how I wish I could be part of a show like La Tele. I’d donate my left kidney for a chance like that.

Forgive me, English speakers, for the following clips are in Spanish, with no subtitles. They’re part of a special shot in Argentina. So Spanish speakers, enjoy!

In the next installment of Autumn Detritus: House and crazy clowns, some more dancing and hopefully District 9!

Until next time… don’t eat your veggies.

The beginning of my profound love affair with sci fi didn’t begin with Star Wars or Star Trek. It began with V. I first saw it when I was 8. I saw it a second time when I was 10. This series was key not only to my development as a sci fi fan, but also to my development as a woman. Why is that? There are two reasons:

1)  As a kid, I wanted to be like intergalactic super bitch Diana. A strange role model, I know. But there were elements about her that were admirable, because despite her evil, EVIL ways, she was a strong, intelligent woman capable of going against men and women alike in intellectual and physical combat.

2)  I very often joke with friends about Michael Ironside being my first love, and they mercilessly make fun of me. But his character on V, Ham Tyler, was in fact the very first man I had a crush on. Yes, I thought he was dreamy. And I became a fan of Michael Ironside. He’s awesome.

Anyway, TMC began re-airing V two weeks ago, and with the upcoming modernized version of this series, I decided to rewatch the whole thing. So what did I think 18 years after my second viewing?

Let’s break it down --


A little background…
V was created by Kenneth Johnson, the man who years later brought Alien Nation to life, gaining my eternal love and admiration.

V: The original miniseries aired in 1983, followed by V: The Final Battle and V: The Series in 1984.

Kenneth Johnson wrote and directed the original miniseries. He briefly worked on V: The Final Battle (leaving the project due to disagreement with the peacock bastards - NBC). He had no participation in the TV series but received a “Created by” credit. More on that coming up…

Here’s my feeble attempt at summarizing the whole story, so be warned: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Donovan is a fearless reporter. Juliet is a doctor and a student. Robin is an annoying, boy crazy teenager who doesn’t want to die a virgin.

The Visitors come to earth in their big ass motherships and park at every important city around the world. They say “We come in peace. Take me to your Leader”. The Visitors, looking as human as any human but with funny voices, propose they be given substances that must be produced on earth in exchange for technology and training. Almost everybody seems happy with this and The Visitors are welcomed.

Humans and visitors begin to coexist. Pro-Visitor propaganda is spread around the world. Donovan befriends Martin the Martian, a visitor who gives Donovan rides on his shuttle.

The Visitors, led by scientific officer Diana and head honcho John, make promises they don’t intend to keep, like providing the cure for cancer, meaning no harm to humans, and peace.

Then people from the scientific community begin to disappear, and they’re also accused of anti-Visitor activities. Donovan becomes suspicious and infiltrates the mothership.

Juliet REALLY wants a piece of Visitor tissue.

Robin REALLY wants to have her way with a dreamy blond visitor. But her family is being prosecuted because her dad is an anthropologist, and they skip town.

Donovan discovers that The Visitors are lizards and they’re on earth to take all the water and to harvest humans to munch on.

When things get worse, Juliet and other scientists go into hiding and form The Resistance. They capture Willie, an adorable dumbass Visitor. They experiment on him but later he becomes part of the resistance. At some point Donovan joins the resistance, as well as Ham Tyler, a mercenary Donovan met some time somewhere. They cause all sorts of trouble for The Visitors with the help of a group of dissident visitors called The Fifth Column.

Robin’s family joins The Resistance, but since she’s in heat, she leaves her hiding place and gets captured. So Diana has the brilliant idea of having the dreamy blond visitor impregnate Robin for an experiment. As Diana’s boy toy, the dreamy blond visitor obeys and impregnates Robin.

Robin is rescued by Donovan, who walks in and out of the mothership like it was his living room, thanks to Martin the Martian.

Robin gives birth to half human/half lizard twins: one more human than lizard, who they name Elizabeth; and one more lizard than human, a green gooey baby that dies of a bacteria that’s later weaponized and called “Red Dust”, tested on the dreamy blond visitor by Robin herself, and later used to send all visitors packing, but not before developing an antidote for The Fifth Columnists.

The Red Dust becomes dormant in areas with hot weather, so the Visitors return. Martin The Martian is killed by Diana.

Elizabeth skips a whole lot of years and becomes an 8 year old in about two years. She can move things with her mind, she can spit poison, and she sparkles! Then she becomes a slimy green cocoon and emerges as a cute 16 year old weakling. She falls for Kyle, the son of Nathan Bates (an associate of the Visitors), who suffers from chronic youthful rebellion and joins the resistance. Robin also falls for Kyle, but she has to be the mom and leave Kyle for her daughter.

Diana discovers that Robin is the only human on the planet capable of procreating with lizards, so she sends Bruce Davison to impregnate her again. But the plan backfires, the impregnator is killed, and Robin skips town with Ham Tyler as her escort, never to be seen again.

Diana and Lydia, her second in command, snipe at each other, conspire against each other, and very rarely work together. The Visitors fight The Resistance, The Resistance fight The Visitors. Martin The Martian’s Twin brother, Phillip, works against The Resistance, then he befriends Donovan and becomes a Fifth Columnist, convinces the Supreme Lizard that humans are good, and The Supreme Lizard orders The Visitors to stand down.

The Supreme Lizard comes to Earth, Diana is charged with insurrection, and he and Elizabeth unite in his shuttle to work on a peace treaty, but not before Kyle goes after Elizabeth and Diana plants a bomb in the shuttle.

And The Supreme Lizard and Elizabeth fly away into the vast void of cancelled TV land.

The End.

The good stuff
From the red uniforms and the use of political propaganda, to the secret experiments and brainwashing practices, V and V: The Final Battle perfectly portray the birth a totalitarian regime in a very organic way, and this process seems heavily inspired by the Nazi regime.

The formation of the resistance was also a highlight, particularly the evolution of their leader Juliet, played by Faye Grant. Juliet was the only character that actually developed from beginning to end. She began as a doctor, reluctantly becoming head of the resistance after the invasion, to later reconcile with her new role as a leader.

There are a few images that stuck with me from my first viewing of the original miniseries. Those images had the same impact on me during this viewing as they did back then. Two of those images were my very first introduction to the effects of liquid nitrogen on a man’s arm, and the first time Diana had a snack, though my reaction to this image in particular changed from fear to uncontrollable laughter. I remember this moment being so scary when I was a kid, but taking into account modern special effects, can you blame me?

The very first reveal of the visitors’ true selves was a great moment.

And despite Robin’s annoying personality, her whole story, culminating in the birth of the half human - half reptilian twins and the death of her baby daddy was pretty interesting and scary.

And on a lighter note, Robert Englund is in it! Seeing him pre-Freddy Krugger is fascinating.


The bad
Well, the bad was the whole TV series! The original creative voice was completely lost and we were left with episodes that at their core were simply repetitive. The excessive recycling of footage from the original miniseries became tiresome and important characters like Ham Tyler left for no reason.

Everything that happened with the resistance worked as a drama, but everything that happened with the visitors that didn’t involve the resistance felt like a bad daytime soap. Every time Diana and Lydia were sniping at each other inside one of the rooms in the mothership, I expected Alexis from Dynasty to walk in on them and say “That's what closed doors are for: to keep out the curious” as the camera zoomed in on her face, giving a lingering look at nothing in particular.

The love triangle between Robin, Elizabeth and Kyle was ridiculous. But the worse aspect of the TV series was its focus on Elizabeth, a character that had the potential to be great but ended up being the most boring character of all, particularly in relation to the introduction of the secret forbidden lizard religion called Zon, and her role as the creature prophesized to be the bringer of love and peace to the universe.

What I mean is, the story was supposed to be more of a sci fi political thriller, and instead it became a cheap melodrama with pseudo-religious elements that came completely out of nowhere and did nothing for the story. All Elizabeth did was look pretty and occasionally move things with her mind.

There were a few elements that kind of saved the TV series. Philip, Martin the Martian’s twin brother, was a late addition to the story and it brought back the alliance between dissident visitors and the resistance, along with the episode when Willie gets hurt and the resistance kidnaps a visitor doctor that ends up being a member of the Fifth Column. The episode were Ham Tyler’s story is explored is also a highlight.

The rest of the TV series is disappointing.

The 80s cheese factor
Being products of the 80’s, both miniseries and the TV series couldn’t escape some 80’s trends that are embarrassing by modern standards.

1) The hair and makeup:

 Jesus!!

2) The lame saxophone music during makeout scenes.
3) The wavy fade effect used to represent the beginning of a flashback.

I do NOT miss these things from the 80’s.

The new V
ABC’s new take on the original miniseries airs in November. The trailer’s already out and it looks damn good. It’s too bad they decided to forgo the red uniforms. But Joel Gretch is in it. *Giggles like a hormonal teenager*

Conclusion
V and V: The Final Battle are brilliant miniseries that everyone should watch. They feel as fresh and original as they did in the 80’s. However, the TV series falls apart in many aspects and the bad far outweighs the good.

In the final installment of Audiovisual Summer of Doom: Not much, really. SYTYCD reaches its 100th episode, preceded by a massive tear fest; BBC Northern Ireland comes up with the goods again; and I conclude this series with a scorecard of sorts.

But first...

Kill me, I’m on Twitter
I’ve finally surrendered to the power of the Twitter tractor beam. I fought against it for so long. But I am weak, very weak.

Here’s the thing: I tend to be a very quiet person. Sometimes I can be borderline autistic. So for a person that doesn’t say much, Twitter is kind of perfect. However, I am finding it terribly difficult to come up with one-liners for my twitter account. I guess what I normally don’t say, I have to write extensively.

So at this point I don’t really know what to do with my twitter account. I can only post from my computer, so weekly updates will do. I did promise I’d stab myself with a fork if I ever got a twitter account. I haven’t done it yet.

Maybe I should stay away from forks for a while.

Occupation - a micro review

“What happened to you?”
“I went to Iraq. Why? What happened to you?”

This is a miniseries, starring James Nesbitt and Stephen Graham, about 3 former British soldiers who return to Basra for different reasons. The biggest merit of this BBC Northern Ireland production is that it doesn’t glamorize war in any way. There is no talk about honor or a sense of duty to their country. There’s no clear definition of who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. This is a story of three men who are severely changed by war and must pay the consequences of their personal change.

Occupation is brilliantly cast and produced. And if you’re capable of understanding thick Irish accent, I very enthusiastically recommend it.

So You Think You Can Dance - Episode 99
Amusement and deep concern with a bit of cynicism come to mind when a reality competition calls for guest judges that have absolutely nothing to do with what the competition is about. Case in point: Quentin Tarantino for American Idol. I mean, love the guy, but how is he relevant as a mentor to the little singers and to the music industry, aside from being great at putting together awesome soundtracks for his films? Though one could argue plenty about the actual relevance of American Idol to the music industry, but that’s not the point.

“Well, I can do that!”

Ellen DeGeneres was announced as one of the guest judges for the 99th episode of SYTYCD and I thought: Love her, but what the hell is a comedian /talk show host doing as a dance competition judge? As I expected, she didn’t bring anything relevant as a judge, and her comments were, for the most part, textbook comic relief. However, she gave the show some levity and humor, which was appreciated. I just hope celebrity guest judges don’t become the norm for this show.

So, on to the performances:

Season 2 runner-up Travis Wall was asked to choreograph the group routine after his fabulous debut as a choreographer the previous week. And the judges praised him in every possible way. I don’t think it’s one of the best group routines ever on the show, but I think it was one of the coolest routines of the season. It wasn’t trying to convey any story or emotion, it wasn’t trying to send any message, it was just about kids having fun at a futuristic rave. And I am now completely obsessed with the song. I can’t get it out of my head.

Aside from that performance, this episode was as weird as this season has been. The first half of the show, with the exception of the first Jazz routine, was the snooze fest of the season; tiny, adorable, geeky looking Broadway Evan got to do a Rumba where he suddenly got sexy in a Zoolander sort of way; then came the Pop Jazz routine that brought back some life into the show and got such praise that the choreographer shed some tears; and finally, the cancer routine came along and everybody shed tears.

Yes, there was a contemporary routine, choreographed by Tyce D’Orio, about a friend of his who has breast cancer. It was performed by Ade and Melissa, two dancers who began to fade fast in the last couple of weeks and had a very weak routine earlier in the episode. The cancer routine was beautiful. When it was done, Melissa was crying, her husband (in the audience) was crying, and the massive snowball effect began, because EVERYBODY cried. The judges didn’t just shed a few tears. They were full on bawling like their mothers had been slaughtered right in front of them. There’s been much discussion online about this routine. Many found it emotionally manipulative. And maybe if the routine had been about “a woman with breast cancer” and not “a choreographer’s friend with breast cancer”, the routine would have gotten lots of praise but not to the extent of having all the judges fall apart the way they did. In the end, it was a great routine and it saved Melissa and Ade.

So You Think You Can Dance - Episode 100
Not many TV shows reach 100 episodes. It’s a big accomplishment that should be celebrated in a very special way. Unfortunately for SYTYCD, the 100th episode was an elimination show. I was disappointed because I wanted more highlights from past seasons, maybe a montage for each season, and I think it should have been 2 hours long. Instead we got a tiny montage summarizing all seasons, the 3 Emmy winning performances, the Katie Holmes thing, and the usual elimination stuff. What I didn’t like about it was how they tried to make the viewing audience believe those 4 routines were live when it had been previously reported online that they were all prerecorded a few weeks ago. It looked kind of ridiculous when, after each of the special performances, Cat Deely and whoever was standing next to her looked at the stage and thanked the performers that weren’t even there.

That being said, The 3 emmy winning performances were excellent. I’ve never particularly liked Mia Michaels’ The Bench but it was well performed. Wade Robson’s The Hummingbird and The Flower and Ramalama were awesome. Here’s Ramalama, with season 2’s top ten and Wade Robson himself:

Then there’s the Katie Holmes special performance, a performance that had been hyped endlessly by many from the SYTYCD camp. In the end, it was fine. It wasn’t impressive, but I don’t think it was as bad as many think. And there are plenty of people who hated this performance. I have the impression that half of the haters think Katie Holmes’ performance was simply inferior to the contestants’ performances, and half of the haters simply hate Katie Holmes. But the performance was for charity, so who cares if she lip-synced the whole thing and barely danced.

And then Janette and Jason were eliminated. Too bad, because Janette was the dark horse of the competition. In the end, the 100th episode ended up being an extra special elimination show, but not really that great for being “the 100th episode”.

This is the end, my friends…
I decided to end Audiovisual Summer of Doom now because there just aren’t any more things I’m looking forward to this summer. All the good stuff will come our way in the fall, and all the good summer stuff has already aired.

So here are my final conclusions about things reviewed in this little blog series:

Burn Notice: Getting better every week. I personally volunteer to discipline Jeffrey Donovan if he gets arrested for another DUI.
So You think You can Dance season 5: Weird season, seems rigged at times. “Where’s the magic, people? Where’s the magic?”
Love ‘n Dancing: No.
Christina Aguilera’s Candyman: Thank you for bringing swing back to our time.
The Lindy Hop Showdown video: I still want to learn to do that!
Mental: Stopped watching after third episode.
Terminator Salvation: Not the profound experience I expected, but pretty fun anyway.
The Girls’ Guide to Comic Con 2009: Still pathetic.
Leading Ladies: Not much info on this one yet, but looks promising.
Push: Love it.
Five Minutes of Heaven: Love it more.
True Blood: Doing great until episode 5, when Sookie and Bill got extra slimy and made me want to stake them both. But the other characters remain great.
Impact: Bland.
Angels & Demons: It gave me Action Padre McKenna, so I’ll forever love it.
John Safran vs. God: Priceless.
LG monitors: DAMN YOU TO HELL YOU BASTARDS!!!
Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince: Loved it.
10 Things I Hate About You: No, no, no… Give me a Larry Miller - fronted comedy any day. But not this.
Virtuality: Disappointing but I didn’t hate it.
Watchmen - The Director’s Cut: OMG!! LOVED IT!!!!!

Did you notice the lack of Transformers: Revenge of the Asshats? I couldn’t bring myself to buy a ticket. So I’ll rent it someday. Who knows, maybe I’ll love it.

And that’s all. I liked this format for my blog. I’ll probably write a similar series for the fall. After all, there’s season 6 of SYTYCD, season 2 of SYTYCD Canada, House, Fringe, a second season of Darker Than Black (Yay!!), Dollhouse, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show (What? Really?), The Beautiful Life, The Vampire Diaries…

Oh gods, there’s so much to watch…

I hope any of you found this little series at least a little bit entertaining!

And now, the final YouTube video of the week:
Is it a short film? Is it a commercial? Who cares! It is simply divine.

Audiovisual Summer of DOOM, Part 1
Audiovisual Summer of DOOM, Part 2
Audiovisual Summer of DOOM, Part 3
Audiovisual Summer of DOOM, Part 4
Audiovisual Summer of DOOM, Part 5

In this installment: SYTYCD gets its top 10, modernizing a modernized version of a classic doesn’t always guarantee great results, there’s no hope for reality TV in space, Potterheads make me consider murder, and I finally saw Watchmen. OMG!

But first...

A tiny brand review: LG Monitors - the bane of my existence
Audiovisual Summer Of Doom was planned as a weekly blog, but I’ve been forced to post the last two entries in two week intervals for two reasons: I got a ridiculous temporary surge of soul-crushing work for the last two weeks (over now, thank Gods), and monitor problems. I had a dual screen display set up with an ancient LCD 17” BenQ monitor and a 6 month old LG 19” LCD monitor, great for ye ol’ Avid Media Composer studies. The BenQ monitor died of old age. Soon after, the LG monitor started going to black after displaying image for two seconds, and it took 15 to 20 minutes to stabilize. The problem got progressively worse until the monitor completely died last Monday.

LG provides a 36 months warranty for all their monitors, which is nice. But the point is, no monitor should have problems within 6 months of purchase when they haven’t been subjected to power surges or any form of abuse. Most importantly, my family has purchased a number of LG cathode tube and LCD TVs over the years that have died in varied ways within 6 months of purchase.

If any of my 3 readers wonder why we’ve continued to buy LG monitors, I can say it’s like people who build houses at the base of an active volcano: we’re human; therefore, we’re stupid.

But I’ve learned my lesson. Fortunately, happy geeky accidents do occur. I had to hook up my computer to a 42” Sony Bravia, and I can assure you that, in this particular case, size matters.

So, in conclusion: Say NO to LG monitors. It’s easy. Just say NO!

The Potter Experience - like swimming in a pool of hormones

Wha...

I’ve never read a Harry Potter book. I am also not a crazy Potter fan, but I do like the series and with every movie I’ve liked the series more and more. What I’ve liked the most is that the stories get darker as the children get older.

Anyway, as I was bored out of my mind, I decided to see Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince this week without taking into account 2 very serious factors:

1. I decided to see it on its premier day, when all crazy fans run to the theaters like an elephant stampede.

2. I completely forgot that at this point in the series, a very large portion of the Potter audience is made of hormonal teenagers.

So there I was in the theater and I noticed how the place was plagued by teens, most wearing the same uniform. It was like a freaking catholic high school field trip! They were all lining up for food and I thought “these little shits are going to come in late”. Sure enough, five minutes after the film began, the stampede of teens run up the theater, giggling, and it continued for another ten minutes. Also at some point, two little bastards decided to have a conversation while standing right in front of me, blocking my view of the film. This immediately made me think of Silent Hill 4’s shovel and how lovely it would’ve been to have had one and…

Anyway, seeing this film wasn’t easy. Every time a character oogled at another character, or every time there was any snogging -and there was plenty of both-, the giggling and swooning in the theater was overwhelming like a wave of pure evil, and a constant but lower giggling and chatter continued throughout the whole film, accompanied by the occasional and very amusing “shh...Shh...SHH!!”

That being said, I loved the film. It’s a great example of how scares can be created without the need of a rating greater than PG. But I decided a second viewing was necessary, mostly because all the hormones in the theater kept me from getting a few things about it.

For example, I got a triple agent vibe from Snape. He executed the big death in the end (which was sad and unexpected), so was he working for Dumbledore making the death eaters think he was working for them?

Also, what’s the actual relevance of The Half Blood Prince? It was an interesting little twist, but how is that relevant for the story other than having taught Harry a pretty cool trick? You know, the defense trick he learned from the potions book and applied on Draco. That trick was pretty awesome.

Speaking of Draco, I think he was the biggest achievement of this film in terms of character development. Draco becoming a death eater wasn’t a surprise at all. What was surprising was the way he reacted to his mission as a death eater. I liked that the character was fleshed out and given an actual purpose other than being the bully who gets his lesson for laughs.

Anyway, I saw it again four days later. This time, the wave of evil was scarce. The theater was mostly packed with adults. There were no inappropriate giggles and I was able to concentrate on the film. But I still have the same issues from the first viewing. I still got the double agent vibe from Snape. I also don’t quite believe the big death in the end is real, but this could be due to fan-girly optimism.

Solution = Read the damn books. Because I am impatient and don’t want to wait over a year for answers. So yeah, I loved it!

A 10 Things I Hate About You Pilot micro review
If the original film, starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger, was very loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew, is the TV version of the film a very loose version of a very loose version of a classic? I think so! I loved the film, but the TV version…

- The show is an ABC Family production, thus making it about 90% vanilla. This conclusion is a direct product of my resentment towards ABC Family for making of Fallen a very dissatisfying miniseries.

- The TV pilot felt like a watered down version of the film. The only standouts were Lindsey Shaw as Kat and Larry Miller as the dad, the true scene stealer. Seriously, they could have made a much better show focused on the Dad.

- Patrick Verona, the very important character played Heath Ledger in the original film, had about 3 lines in the pilot and for the most part behaved like a stalker. He could develop into an interesting character in the following episodes, but since I’m never going to see this show again, I’ll never know.

A Virtuality Pilot micro review

It’s not real, man; it’s a game…

- It’s reality TV in space!

- The pilot spent too much time setting up the story and the characters, it introduced actual conflict too late, and kicked into action on the last half hour.

- The story is very strange but very interesting. It could have explored concepts like insanity due to isolation, virtual reality vs. actual reality and its effects on the human mind when not clearly separated, and many other crazy things, had it been picked up as a series. Despite airing as a TV movie, it is a pilot, leaving many things inconclusive.

- It had a good cast and great music. It also had the signature controlled shaky camera from Battlestar Galactica.

- It would have worked better as a miniseries.

Last week on So You Think You Can Dance
Brandon and Janette, and Melissa and Ade were the standout couples as usual. Kayla and Kupono did very well too, and Kayla still remains the judges’ favorite, despite getting lukewarm reviews for her Broadway routine.

Kayla: Goth Barbie?
(screencap taken from top 14 episode)

Now, about Kayla: Without taking into account how subpar her solos have been, she is a great dancer, she looks like a Barbie and seems like a nice person. Good for her. But there are two forces against her: 1) Having been the judges’ favorite for the first half of the show, she no longer has their protection now that the judges no longer decide who stays and who goes; 2) Every time she gets a bad comment or hits the bottom three, you can see how her heart breaks into tiny little pieces. Either she’s used to hearing only good comments about herself, or -as I’m most inclined to believe- she’s just too young. I think she would have benefitted from a few more years of experience. Whatever happens, the girl can dance and in a few years she will be a fabulous dancer. She might make it to top four, but who knows.

As for Ade and Melissa, despite rocking those killer lifts for their disco routine, they ended up in the bottom 3. And thank god for that, because we got to see their solos. This is how you truly dance for your life:

Caitlin and crowd favorite Phillip were eliminated but secured a place in the tour, which is like a bitter sweet ass kicking with a paycheck at the end. Good times.

Nigel told the remaining contestants that it was time for them to be stars, because most of them haven’t achieved their full potential despite being great technical dancers. I agree, and this is something that’s been missing from this season. So the top ten remain, now at the mercy of the audience. Things should get very interesting. Which brings me to--

This week on So You Think You Can Dance
Things sure got interesting this week. Season 2 runner-up Travis Wall debuted as a choreographer, helping send Jason and Jeanine into stardom. It was beautifully danced and choreographed, and it pretty much outshined all the other performances. And it proves my point that season 2 delivered the most talented dancers out of all seasons. Benji, Dmitry, and now Travis… it’s beautiful.

There were also two group performances. The girls did a Bollywood routine that was fun, energetic, and I’m sure it made many men drool, but the guys’ routine… Wow.  The world needs more African dance.

Kupono and Randi were eliminated this week, but at least Kupono left us with a pretty cool solo. Not tricks, just dance.

Most contestants, the contemporary specialists mostly, always pick beautiful ballads for their solos. That’s pretty and all, but I love it when contestants pick a quirky song for an equally quirky solo.

And now, a few words about Mary Murphy: At times she can get annoying with all her screaming, and the irrational hot tamale train ticket delivery and whatnot, but when she calms down and gets serious, she is very insightful. I wish she’d just tone it down a bit. Aside from that, that woman needs to quit it with the botox.

Woo!!! Woo!!! Woo!!!

SAY NO TO BOTOX, MARY MURPHY!!! It’s not that hard, you just say NO! Her face doesn’t move at all. It’s creepy and a sign of excessive and badly applied botox. Sometimes she looks like she's wearing a mask of herself with a hole where the mouth goes.  That being said, I love her for admitting she uses botox.

Speaking of masked people --

I finally saw Watchmen: OMG!! - A short comment
I’m not going to write a proper review of Watchmen because there are about a billion reviews out there. Here’s the thing: during Watchmen’s theatrical release, I completely spaced out and didn’t see it. So I decided to wait for the director’s cut, despite my tendency to hate them.

Generally speaking, with some exceptions, I find director’s cuts self indulgent, so I try to avoid them. Directors develop emotional attachments to shots and scenes, particularly to those difficult to shoot or to set up, that sometimes don’t serve the story well, so when time comes to make the director’s cut, they unnecessarily overextend or add scenes or shots that ultimately do nothing for the story. Like Fritz Lang’s M. I don’t care how important that film is for cinema history, but I swear, M’s director’s cut ended up being so slow that it ate away a bit of my soul.

So I bravely decided to endure the 3+ hours of Watchmen and I was very happily surprised. I thought the pacing was great. I didn’t feel those 3+ hours at all. I think Watchmen did for superhero films what the Bourne series did for spy films: It brought back some intelligence to what’s normally limited to spectacle. It didn’t make me feel like my IQ dropped by seeing it.

Since I’m not familiar with the original material and haven’t seen the original cut, I can’t make comparisons. All I can ultimately say is that it was bloody beautiful.

And now, the YouTube video of the week:  For this week, I've chosen an educational video shown to me at a drunken poker session.  It is about a very important word used by all of us every day. 

SYTYCD reaches its 100th episode, BBC Northern Ireland brings Occupation to our teles, and I’ll probably wrap up this little blog series.
 

Until next time… Don't drink and drive.

Audiovisual Summer of DOOM, Part 1
Audiovisual Summer of DOOM, Part 2
Audiovisual Summer of DOOM, Part 3
Audiovisual Summer of DOOM, Part 4

About the media coverage of MJ and Farrah Fawcett’s death, I’ve found it all a bit too inappropriately morbid. I mean, sure it is news worthy, but there should be a limit to the amount of coverage, especially from channels like E (or E!), if only to give MJ’s family some peaceful time to mourn.
 
I’d like to refer you to the latest Televised Revolution podcast. Televised Revolution is a radio show for Brisbane’s community radio 4ZZZ, dedicated to all things TV. In their latest podcast, they got on bit of a heated discussion about MJ’s death, Farrah’s death, the ensuing paranoia created on the internet to generate more traffic for some websites, and the lack of source confirmation from some media outlets. It’s very interesting:
 
Televised Revolution podcast #72


OMG, it’s another meteor movie: Impact
This is actually a miniseries, a bastard child of Armagedon and the Sci Fi TV movie Earthstorm.

So how similar are Impact and Earthstorm? Read on and see if you agree with me:

Story
Impact: A meteor hits the moon, creating a huge crack on its surface, altering its orbit and putting it in a collision path towards Earth. A group of scientists are recruited to come up with a plan to save our precious Earth. In the end, they decide that magnetizing the moon’s core is the way to salvation.

Earthstorm: A meteor hits the moon, creating a huge crack on its surface, so deep that once the moon completely splits in two, the smaller segment will go on a collision path towards Earth. A group of scientist and demolition experts are recruited to come up with a plan to save our precious Earth. In the end, they decide that magnetizing the moon’s core is the way to salvation.

Characters
Impact: A female scientist is assigned as head of the team. She then requests the services of the main male character, a scientist, father of two whose wife has recently passed away, because he is the best at what he does. The main male character reluctantly accepts to go on the space mission to magnetize the moon. Also, the chief military advisor to the president is a complete asshole until he’s forced to accept his mistakes and redeem himself. In the end, it’s implied that the main female lead and the main male lead will hook up.

Earthstorm: A female scientist is assigned as head of the team. She then requests the services of the main male character, a demolition expert whose wife has recently passed away, because he is the best at what he does. The main male character reluctantly accepts to go on the space mission to magnetize the moon. Also, the chief scientific advisor to the president is a complete asshole until he’s forced to accept his mistakes and redeem himself. In the end, the main female lead and the main male lead hook up.

The Moon

The Crack of Impact vs. the Crack of Earthstorm

I must say, the one thing going for Earthstorm is that because it was a TV movie, it was much better paced that Impact. Impact had better effects, but it was a bit slow and sappy.

But enough nonsense. What is this, filmmaking by numbers? Do TV networks and production houses share the same blueprint for meteor programs and they just change bits and pieces? It’s kind of ridiculous.

But wait! There’s another meteor miniseries, tentatively called Meteor, dangerously coming our way July 12 on NBC. At least in this one the moon is not involved.


Last Week on So You Think You Can Dance…
YAWN…I miss season 2. This episode almost made me want to die. That being said, there were two great exceptions: Melissa and Ade’s Rumba, and the best routine of the nigh: Evan and Randi’s contemporary butt routine. Mia Michaels outdid herself. I think she produces her very best choreography when she simplifies. Here it is:

This week on So You Think You Can Dance…
Finally, they got it right. All routines were fun, exciting and well danced. Mia Michaels also redeemed herself by explaining -or justifying- the horribly unnecessary way she attacked contestant Brandon when the top 20 were chosen. It was beautiful, and it seemed totally faked from the very beginning, but it got me all teary. Ha! I’m such a girly sometimes…

Thought I must say it seems that this week, the dances were assigned rather than picked randomly: The resident ballerina gets a Pa De Deux , Salsa dancer Janette gets a Cha Cha (which is different from salsa in technique but it’s still a Latin dance), Broadway Evan gets a Broadway routine, contemporary dancers Kayla and Kupono get a contemporary routine, popper Philip gets hip hop; and Vitolio, the one told he’d be in danger if he didn’t bring it, gets Quickstep, a dance known in this show as the kiss of death? And who left the competition the next day? Vitolio.

The show seemed “a bit” rigged, but in the end, it was a good episode. And yet... I still miss season 2.

Here’s the weirdest performance of the night, one of my favorites. Choreographed by Bryan Freedman, this is the story of an alien that, after destroying Earth, wants to impregnate the only survivor. How very fitting for this blog!

What a difference Action Padre McKenna makes: an Angels & Demons mini review (sort of)

Bless me Father, for I have sinned... or have I?

My expectations for this movie were LOW. I’ve never read the book; I never read The Da Vinci Code and its film translation was entertaining and I didn’t mind the excessive exposition, but it wasn’t great.

So I went to see it a few days ago expecting to take a nap. Then my mind got a bit weird, because as soon as The Large Hadron Collider footage came up on screen, I immediately thought about The Large Meme Collider, which made me think of Blog Wars. I guess CHUD.com is now heavily ingrained in my brain.

Anyway, the truth is, I loved this movie. I don’t know if I loved it because it was well acted and well made, or if it was all due to my very low expectations. The ending was kind of crap, the story had its low points, but the movie was much better than The Da Vinci Code: More action, less exposition. I loved the whole intro sequence at CERN.

That being said, despite not completely wanting to admit it, I think the real reason why I loved this movie was Ewan McGregor. I’ve loved him since Trainspotting and he also happens to be one of the stars of one of my favorite films (The Pillow Book). But in Angels & Demons, he is just cool. His character, Carmalengo Patrick McKenna (or as I like to call him, Action Padre McKenna), is like what a relatively sane catholic action hero should be. I’d like to see a film just about Action Padre. The only other religious action heroes I can think of right now are Alexander Anderson from Hellsing, Padre Benicio Del Toro from Machete, and Brother Justin Crowe from Carnivale (this one isn’t exactly an action hero, but you know what I mean).

Come to think of it, an Action Nun would be kind of awesome, sort of like the one from this t-shirt. I have to buy that t-shirt...

I’m spacing out again. I guess this isn’t really a review after all. But, in conclusion, it was a fun movie. Not great, but very entertaining. And Action Padre was divine!

Speaking of religious things - -


John Safran vs. God
If you are an uber sensitive religious person who finds even the most innocent joke about your chosen religion completely insulting, you might not want to watch this.

But if you appreciate irony, or if at least you get the Australian sense of humor, please watch this as soon as you can.

John Safran vs. God is a 2004, 8 part documentary series made for SBS Australia by documentarian and comedian John Safran.

In this wonderful little series, Safran “road tests” a bunch of different religions, participating in rituals, trying to infiltrate religious groups, and even places a temporary fatwa on an Australian TV host. Surely, Safran’s approach is a bit subversive, but underneath the irony there’s a good amount of well researched, interesting information. The tone of the stories range from lighthearted fun, to very dark, to very frightening. In the end, this is a series worth watching but only if, as I mentioned before, you’re not easily offended.

John Safran also has a radio show on Triple J (Australian radio) accompanied by the fabulous Father Bob Maguire (who makes an appearance on John Safran vs. God, in the segment about Catholicism), where they discuss religion, politics, and…hoochies? You can download past programs (updated every week) here:

The John Safran Show

Here’s a sample of John Safran vs. God, and please pay attention to the title sequence. It’s funny:

Would you like to know about the Mormon film industry? Did you even know there was one? Safran covered this theme on this show, too.

Would you like to see the clip? There you go - -


The YouTube video of the week:
On a previous post, I said I had lived with a Mormon family for a year. I have fond memories of that time. I was welcomed by the community with open arms and the family was really good to me. I also met a whole lot of missionaries, but in the end I decided not to convert. This is why I found this segment from John Safran vs God so very amusing. Why can’t there be an action movie about Mormon missionaries that is also respectful to the LDS church? Have a look:

In the next installment of Audiovisual Summer of DOOM: I’ll watch Virtuality (despite bad reviews), I’ll try to see Transformers (and hope my soul won’t be completely crushed), I’ll see if I can watch 10 Things I Hate about You without breaking my TV, and I’ll probably re-watch something old because this summer has kind of sucked!

Until next time…Watch out for those meteorites.

In this installment: I write two micro reviews and vent out my disappointment, the cool bloodsuckers are back, and I finally come to terms with the fact that So You Think You Can Dance will be part of every installment of this little series in some capacity.

But first...

The Girls' Guide to Comic Con 2009: Pathetic…
I am a hardcore geek.  I love all things sci fi and fantasy.  I wear geeky t-shirts (my Astroboy t-shirt being my favorite).  I am obsessed with violent, dark anime, especially cyberpunk anime.  I play gory video games to the point of possible aneurisms.  And if I lived in The States, I’d cosplay the hell out of every geeky convention I could attend.

I am also a woman.  Yes, there are some actors that make me giggle like a hormonal teenager, but I’m mostly interested in good narratives, high quality content, and some times, pure shameless escapism.  So when I hear or read any form of commentary suggesting that women in general are only attracted to sci fi to oogle at beefy leading man, I have to take it personally.

The L.A. Times posted the craptacular The Girls' Guide to Comic Con 2009 and managed to piss off a hell of a lot of women by suggesting that female attendees would only be motivated to attend Comic Con to offer to do Jake Gyllenhaal's laundry on his awesome abs, to line up for the Twilight panel because supposedly the male stars are “dreamy”; that girls only like action films when headlined by hotties, and that supposedly werewolves are female friendly because they are capable of sympathizing with women’s monthly curse.

Here’s the thing: I’d rather stab myself with a fork than seeing or reading anything related to Twilight, I think Jake Gyllenhaal is a really good actor but he could show up on screen with a flabby one-pack for all I care, and seriously, when is The Expendables coming out?  It would be nice if people didn’t automatically assume that all women want to see tearjerker movies, read romance novels and secretly prepare for a lifetime of domestic servitude, because there are plenty of women that really don’t care about any of that stuff.

That article is the kind of non war related crap that slowly but surely makes me lose faith in humanity.  It doesn’t even anger me.  It’s just sad.

Here are a few other opinions on the subject:

"The Girl's Guide To Comic Con": Headdesk Powers, Activate!
San Diego Comic Con: Not Really For Girls?
An Open Letter to the L.A. Times from a Geek Girl

As for So You Think You Can Dance Season 5: AAAAHHHHHH!!!!

I’m not sure if there are many CHUD.com readers actually interested in SYTYCD, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I love this show because it’s one of the few reality competitions that actually involves talent.

That being said, there is something fundamentally wrong with season 5.  Let’s break it down like this:

Season 1 was the test season and its charm resided in its innovation.  After all, a televised dance competition like this hadn’t been seen before.

Season 2 was the soul of this competition.  No other season has produced the amount of talent and distinctive personalities that came out of season two.  Also, no other season has made me care about the individual dancers.

Because from season 3 onwards, with very few exceptions, instead of looking forward to watching the rehearsal clips and wanting to know how the dancers were doing at the time, I’ve felt more like shouting “Shut up and dance!” at my TV.  This is not bad because the focus is on the choreographies, not on the individual dancers themselves.  But since this competition is about finding America’s favorite “dancer”, not America’s favorite choreography…

And now we are in performance week 2 of season 5 and the show is really kind of soulless.  From Mia Michaels and Lil C’s blunt personal attack to one of the contestants, to the stupid reasons why the Broadway brothers (Evan and Ryan Kasprzak) weren’t allowed to be part of the Top 20 together, to some of the other choices for the Top 20, the show has lost a little bit of its magic.

They better choose Ryan Kasprzak for season 6 because he was majorly robbed.  Here’s the Broadway Brother’s audition video:

Speaking of being robbed:

The Max is gone. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

So for this week’s results show, the decision on who was going to get cut wasn’t unanimous, but what is the reasoning behind cutting Max Kapitannikov, a dancer who not only performed great in both previous performance shows, but also - despite finding himself in the bottom three couples - performed one of the best solos of the night?Was a good reason to cut him saying that his ballroom training limited him when there were other dancers that did worse than him?

There were only four dancers I cared about.  Now there are only three.  At least the choreographies are still great.  In general, this season has been weird.  I hope it gets better in the following weeks.

Speaking of SYTYCD connections, a brief follow-up:  Leading Ladies
I very briefly mentioned this dance film on a previous post and since then, my interest in it has risen considerably.  Since it is currently being shot, not much can be said about it, except that it has a lot of SYTYCD alumni in it.

That being said, my interest has risen due to Laurel Vail’s blog.  Laurel Vail plays the lead role in Leading Ladies, which also happens to be her very first leading film role. She’s been blogging about her experience quite regularly.  It’s an interesting and fun read:

http://www.laurelvail.com

Hong Kong hides the gifted and Irish men are vengeful: Two micro reviews

Cassie: “Are you ok?”
Joe: “He…he made me watch…”
Cassie: “Wha...?”

This little segment will be about two non-summer films I saw recently: Push and Five Minutes of Heaven.  I’ve tried to write reviews for them in the last two posts but I always find myself writing about something else.  So here are the reviews in micro summarized form:

Push:
- Hong Kong is one of the best locations for films.  It is graphically interesting and colorful.
- I liked the story; it was what Heroes could have become had it not strayed away from season 1’s original intensions.
- The performances were pretty good.
- The dialogues got too expositional when Cassie talked about The Company.
- What I loved the most was that the focus wasn’t on the characters’ abilities but on how those abilities were used.  CGI lite is not bad.

Five Minutes of Heaven
- Powerhouse acting.  Very introspective.
- Liam Neeson is flawless.  James Nesbitt deserves an Oscar now!

I was also going to review Hawthorne, a new medical show starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Michael Vartan, but I got lazy and decided not to watch it.  I guess I’m just not that excited about yet another medical drama.  Whatever.

The Bloodsuckers are back!! - True Blood, Season 2

I remember when this show first started and how I really didn’t know if I’d like it.  Vampires in the south?  That sounded weird.  I thought it was going to be campy as hell.  But what a refreshing approach to vampires it ended up being.

This show directly and indirectly reminds me of another great show that took a very original and interesting take on vampires: Ultraviolet, a 1998 English miniseries starring beautiful Jack Davenport and super cool Idris Elba.  I won’t write anything about Ultraviolet and how much I love it because it deserves its own blog entry, but what is worth mentioning is that Stephen Moyer (who plays sweet vampire Bill in True Blood) had a small but pivotal role in Ultraviolet as a bloodsucker.

Lafayette is alive!!!

True Blood returned for its second season last Sunday and it was so good! This show is just flawless to me.  From Sookie to Jessica the teenage vampire, there are no underdeveloped characters. The story is so well paced and it unfolds so organically, and yes, it is kind of a sexy show.  But what else could be expected from Allan Ball?  The man is a genius.

I also love how smoothly but quickly the tone of the story within a scene shifts from dramatic, to comedic, to mysterious, to scary.  And it never seems rushed or forced.  The first episode of season two had one line that had me laughing and crying for a while:

“…My ass is magnetic now!”
Hahahahahahaha…

Here’s a very quick summary of what happened: Sookie is sick of finding dead bodies, Tara is doing better than ever but is forced to meet with her crazy Jesus freak mother yet again, Sam’s past comes back to bite him in the ass - so to speak -, Maryann is not as nice as she seemed, Andy is taking the funky path to brewskiland, Jason finds God, the vamps are still trying to make everyone think they’re not bad, the religious anti-vampire people are trying to make everyone think they’re really good, and Lafayette is alive!

True Blood and Burn Notice are the two shows that will save my summer, and I thank the gods for that.

And now, instead of a YouTube video of the week, I give you this:
In case you’ve got some form of writer’s block (or any other type of block), or if your inner critic is a psychotic bitch (like mine), listen to this, taken from The Sound of Young America via johnaugust.com --

In the next installment of Audiovisual Summer of DOOM: I’ll be pissed about something, I’ll be disappointed with something, I’ll probably bitch some more about SYTYCD, and I’ll see if I can make it through Impact without comparing it to Earthstorm.

Until next time…May the force be with you!

Mental, Fox Telecolombia´s second big baby, premiered last week and despite what any of you might think about the show itself, the implications for South American television are huge, especially for Colombia.

Apparently Fox saved 60% of the initial estimated budget by shooting the show in Bogotá with an all Colombian crew. Yay for Fox! But to me, the biggest benefit of having an American show shot in Colombia, with a Colombian crew, but following American work ethic and workflows, is that maybe our local producers will get a fucking clue about how to properly structure local productions.

Because film and tv production should be approached as an assembly line that requires every individual department to work independently but also intercommunicated with other departments in order to maximize efficiency and quality of the final product. Interdisciplinary work is what guaranties true efficiency. Unfortunately, Colombia doesn’t have that. By the way, I’m writing from Colombia, so I’m not completely pulling all this out of my ass.

A few months ago I attended the presentation of an investigation conducted in Medellin, Colombia, about local television. One of the conclusions from this investigation stated that local producers are very unwilling to implement interdisciplinary work in their productions; they said that what they lacked in interdisciplinary work, they made up for with determination. That statement made me want to pull my hair out.

Because seriously, with a lack an internal structure achieved through interdisciplinary work and the discipline to follow shooting schedules, film and tv productions can very easily become logistical nightmares; I also believe that a proper structure not only guaranties efficiency, but also the proper treatment of all personnel involved.

If local productions keep going the way they are right now, soon enough all advancements made in the last few years, especially in Colombian film, will be for nothing.

I hope that when all those Colombians involved in Mental go back to their comparatively poorly paid local tv jobs, with basically no lunch breaks –or any breaks- and under the command of directors and producers that can’t stick to a shooting schedule even if they’re threatened at gunpoint, they will get together, scream in unison “COMAN MIERDA!!”, and demand better treatment and quality in the workplace.

Creo que tú y yo estamos locos…

About the show itself, I don’t think it can be judged this soon. By the time I publish this blog entry, the third episode with our dearly departed David Carradine as a guess star will have aired. The show is interesting enough in terms of story. A show about mental illness has the potential to be very creative, so although I’m not fully convinced yet, I’m willing to give it a chance… until episode 5. If I don’t get hooked before episode 5, I’m abandoning the damn thing.

In technical terms, Mental has a proper use of HD in terms of framing and lighting. Sadly, what was not achieved at all is the proper film look that would have made the show look a hell of a lot more expensive than it really is. This little fact is very distracting because it looks like it was shot on consumer video format. I mean, it doesn’t even look like it was shot at 24fps. Once again, this opinion is based on a first viewing of the pilot, so there’s hope for improvement.

As for the cast, nothing important to comment yet. Chris Vance does a good job portraying the very eccentric Dr. Gallagher, and the rest of the cast was competent enough. What I find curious is that the main cast doesn’t include Colombian actors. There was a bit of controversy in Colombia about this. It actually doesn’t bother me, but as I said, I find it curious. The only Colombian actor I spotted was this guy:

Juan Pablo Raba, a very well known Colombian
actor. The poor sucker only showed up in
two scenes and didn’t even have a line.

What does this say about Colombian actors? Are Colombian actors not talented enough for an American production? Very doubtful. There’s actual talent here. Are Colombian actors in desperate need of intensive English lessons? Who knows! Hopefully some Colombian actors will at least get some juicy guest roles and show what they can do.


Terminator Salvation: Not quite “Salvation”, but still pretty cool
I must say I kind of loved this movie. I don’t think it’s perfect. It’s far from perfect. But I left the theater very happy.

Let us talk about the bad stuff.

1. The marketing of the film: Marcus’ “mechanical truth” was probably the biggest twist of the story. By including it in the trailers, the surprise factor was completely lost. Bad marketing monkeys! BAD!

2. The love story between Marcus and Williams didn’t work for me at all. Both characters are very cool individually, but their relationship was weird and badly paced. I don’t know who to blame for this. Maybe the essence of this relationship was lost in the final cut. Maybe a director’s cut will shed some light into this failed bit of the story.

3. It is a known fact that John Connor originally wasn’t the focus of this film and Mr. Christian Bale demanded the role to be expanded. And despite Connor getting just about as much screen time as Marcus, he still wasn’t the focus of the film. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Marcus, but a Terminator film without John Connor as the main focus is just wrong.

4. Sarah Connor’s “appearance” wasn’t as awesome as it could have been. It just wasn’t.

And now, let us talk about the good. In no particular order…

1. The Robots: Oh, how pretty and evil they were! I’m particularly fond of the harvester. Wicked evil. And say what you will, but that cameo by The Governator (which was very obviously pure cgi) made me say a pretty euphoric “Hell yeah!”, fist pump included.

2. Marcus Wright: What a great character. Very complex, very human. Once again, the trailers killed the character’s big surprise, but whatever. Sam Worthington did a very good job with the character.

And now, please allow me a moment to drool over Sam Worthington:
***DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!***

Sorry. Where was I...

3. John Connor: Regardless of silly meltdowns and whatnot, Christian Bale is a great actor, one of my favorites, and he did a great job portraying Connor. I truly think he did the very best he could with what was given to him.

4. Kyle Reese: That Anton Yelchin is so talented! He’s great. Good portrayal of a young Kyle Reese. I miss Michael Biehn, but Yelchin did not disappoint.

5. The world post judgement day. Not much to say about it. Very 80s, Mad Max like. Completely believable.

The bottom line is, I was thoroughly entertained by this movie. Getting a bit metaphysical, it lacked the depth T2, but it’s only the first post judgement day film. There’s plenty of opportunity for improvement.


And now, some 80’s music:
There’s this song from the 80’s that has become a staple of my birthday celebrations for many years. My father happens to love it and he requested a copy of this song a few days ago. That’s why I’m writing about it.

If you’re a latin child of the 80’s, you’ll probably understand its relevance: Mi Aguita Amarilla by Los Toreros Muertos. In short, the song is about piss, and it is hilarious!

I found the official video on Youtube. It isn’t as funny as the song itself, but it’s funny anyway. But most importantly, I found the English version of the song, and it sounds so bad, it is awesome. Here they are:

The fantastic original Spanish song.

Some things should not be translated… by the way: Toreros Muertos = Dead bullfighters, in case you wanted to know.


The Black Dawn: Creepy dark clouds are grand
“A dark cloud has fallen over Los Angeles... unleashing a deadly virus... only 14 survived. No one knows how/why it happened”. This is the premise of the ongoing web series The Black Dawn, produced by WebSerials.com.

I’ve seen a few chapters of this series and I find it very interesting so far. It is entertaining, and with the exception of a few sound recording problems, it is well made. There’s also an ongoing prequel called The Black Dawn: Catalyst, that I consider technically and acting-wise far superior.

So in case you’re looking for some web entertainment, here you go:

The Black Dawn
The Black Dawn: Catalyst


And now, the Youtube video of the week:
This is part 6 of a video journal shot for Movmnt Magazine by Ivan Koumaev, a season 2 contestant of So You Think You Can Dance. This is a behind the scenes look at SYTYCD season 4 finale with the alumni from previous seasons.

Who knew bored dancers could be this funny:

If you’d like to see the rest of the episodes, click here.

In the next installment of Audiovisual Summer of DOOM: I’ll actually try to get around writing about how Hong Kong hides the gifted and how vengeful Irish men can be, True Blood returns, and so does Michael Vartan!

Until next time…Don’t let The Men get you down!