The Office of Letters and Light Blog

Marathon TV Watching

The other day, I added the entire six-season run of The Larry Sanders Show to my Netflix Instant queue. I’ve been meaning to watch it for a while, and I plan to take it down in one big gulp—a few solid days of rigorous sitcomming during the winter months.

Obviously, I’m not alone in this style of marathon TV watching. DVD and video-on-demand have made the practice a common part of the cultural conversation. I can’t jump on to my Facebook or Twitter feeds without hearing about someone working through a season or more. (A friend’s run of Cheers was the most impressive.) Recent episodes of Portlandia and Up All Night have noted the intense commitment people feel to the shows they’re mainlining. And many media critics have spoken up both for and against the “binge.”

(Our office, meanwhile, houses some serious Downton Abbey marathonners: Sarah and Grant just knocked out the first season.)

Are you a fan of watching TV shows all at once? Why or why not? If you are, which ones have kept you couch-bound? Any notable marathons that you regretted or repeated?

– Chris A.

Photo by Flickr user jayneandd

The Play’s the Thing

Until last week, it had been about a year since I went to “see a show”: a stage production of Beauty and the Beast.

I was reminded then, as I always am when I go to the theater, how much I love plays and how I really ought to see more of them. And more regularly.

And then another year passed before I found myself happily—luckily—invited to see Cirque du Soleil’s Immortal Michael Jackson tour. Not your traditional stage play by any stretch, but still theater to be sure.

The intersection of story (a loose bio of Jackson), tribute to his life and loves, and spectacular performance-art-as-music-video certainly ranked this production in the “like nothing I’ve ever seen” category. The astronomical production value, the astonishingly ornate costumes, the interpretations of history and the music that ranged from the wildly creative and abstract to the literal,  the pyrotechnics (!), the acrobatics, and the sheer awesomeness of the music heard in a different context all left me slack-jawed, starry eyed, and one million percent dazzled.

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

No, I’m not talking back-to-school. I don’t care about the crisp fall weather or the turning leaves. I’m not a football fan (hockey is my game). I love this time of year because it means the new TV season is starting at last. Yippee!

I have written before about my enthusiastic appreciation for all things television. And there is nothing I love more than the fresh slate of a new crop of programs. Except maybe all my old favourites coming back for another season.

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REC Everything

I went on vacation with my family recently (Mexico), and shared a camera with my father. This brought back a flood of memories of a syndrome from my childhood. It’s called DNVS, and it’s as contagious as it is unforgiving.

Depending on when you grew up, you may or may not be familiar with “Dad’s New Video (Camera) Syndrome.” DNVS is incurable (except by time) and can be exhausting for all involved. Its spread to epidemic levels in the ’90s was directly related to the falling prices in video recording technology, and resulted in millions of hours of historically critical footage of babies eating baby food, and your brother taking his first swim in the new avocado-colored kiddie pool.

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Boring Movies or Boring Critics?

I wish the title “Eating Your Cultural Vegetables” had attracted me based on some confusion or freshness, but the truth is the title was resonant in a nauseating way. It was resonant from having (way) too many conversations with film majors interested in participating in the creation of the next The Hangover 2.

Late this April, a writer named Dan Kois set-off a minor firestorm on the internet with his article about “Eating Your Cultural Vegetables.” In it, he coins the term “aspirational viewing” where the film-goer watches something he anticipates to be boring/painful/long because they consider it to be, for some inexplicable reason, good for them. 

If I heard this at a college party, I’d smile and nod, but I wasn’t alone in finding it a little hard to take from a film critic. Yes, this man is paid to watch films and write about them. (You can’t make this stuff up.)

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Chris A. and Sarah Debate… The Comedy Emmy Nominations!

Sarah: As we have written about in the past, Chris A. and I are both television enthusiasts. We are also both people with a lot of opinions, and thus are prone to frequent overzealous discussions about various shows we watch.

Naturally, then, last week’s announcement of the Emmy nominees began a spirited debate over the various categories. Although we have plenty to say about other genres (I for one am thrilled to see Cat Deeley get recognized for Reality Show Host, because she is a total delight and very good at maintaining order while still being charming), the comedy category is definitely where we have the strongest opinions. So we thought we’d break down those thoughts in another installment of our ongoing “Chris A. and Sarah Debate Things” blog series.

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Vegas, baby!

I am heading to Las Vegas for the first time in my life. Though I’m not traveling there to participate in the usual behaviors (gambling, getting married, eating endangered species), but instead to visit family, I fear it’s impossible not to get sucked into the spectacle.

I can’t help but ponder the representations I have seen in books and on film of this larger-than-life place—it is the standard by which I will end up judging the real thing!

The movies I keep referencing in my mind are Swingers, The Hangover, Ocean’s Eleven, and cameo appearances in The Big Lebowski and Knocked Up. As for books, well, I can only think of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. (I read it, though I didn’t see the movie adaptation.)

After this weekend, I will only be able to compare representation of Vegas in film and movies to the real thing.

I’d love to know what those might be—if I am missing some major seminal works about, or set in, this notorious and ultimately unavoidable phenomenon of a city. Enlighten me, please!

Through the looking glass I go…

Photo by Flickr user bfishadow

Everything Must Go

A few of us have written about movie adaptations on this blog—most recently Water For Elephants, which the office took a field trip to see last month. But, I am really intrigued when short stories get turned into movies. There are quite a few, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Brokeback Mountain, and Minority Report. Check out a whole list here. And I wonder, how does a screenwriter expand a short story into a full-length movie?

I was thinking about this because of the new movie Everything Must Go, which is based on a Raymond Carver story. After watching the trailer, it seems that there have been a lot of drastic changes from the short story. (You can read the entire Carver story here.) The writer/director, Dan Rush, has apparently added additional characters and scenes, and the main character develops deeper relationships. The whole story runs about 2,100 words, so it makes sense that it would need to be expanded to work as a film. But it seems like it would be incredibly difficult to decide what to expand on without knowing the author’s  intent.

I’m looking forward to seeing this one, and figuring out how the story worked as a jumping-off point. What other short story-to-film adaptations have you seen? Which ones work, and why? Which ones definitely don’t?

Wanted: Knives, cunning, and a canapé or two

I don’t watch a lot of TV. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoy the tube as much as the next person. I just have a hard time planting myself for more then three minutes at a time (unless I’m in bed with my book).

So when I do flip on the TV, I usually do so with intention.  I can pretty much guarantee I am either watching sports or a cooking show. Not just any sports or cooking show, though. It’ll be baseball, soccer, or tennis; Top Chef, Iron Chef, or Mexico: One Plate at a Time. I’m fussy like that.

Lately, though, I’ve been despairing because the new season of Top Chef Masters is really not doing it for me. The new cast of judges is pretentious and petty, the challenges are absurd, and it’s painfully clear that the whole rodeo isn’t worth these talented chefs’ time or effort. (At least they are competing for charity. That is a saving grace—and an important one.)

I am five episodes in now and thinking I may need to trade this hour of programming for another. Seeing as I clearly have an affinity for competition-based reality programming, what would you recommend I watch instead?

My kitty thanks you for your input. (TV watching is the one time during the day that I am at home and sitting. He likes that.)

Photo by Flickr user John Loo

What We’re Watching: Terri

I decided to celebrate a successful end to Script Frenzy by attending a special screening at the San Francisco International Film Festival. My friend Azazel Jacob’s new film Terri was a festival favorite, and I was really looking forward to seeing it. Aza has a keen talent for taking a slice-of-life experience and transforming it into pure cinema. Thus, Aza’s new film Terri did not disappoint.

It’s a coming-of-age story about an awkward high school student (Jacob Wysocki) who wears pajamas to school and struggles to find a place among his fellow students. When Terri is dubbed an at-risk student, vice principal Mr. Fitzgerald (John C. Reilly) reaches out and the two of them form an unexpected friendship. 

The film is uncomfortable to watch at times. The absence of Terri’s parents, his ailing uncle, and his lack of friends—it’s a lonely portrait of a young, aimless, relentlessly teased, insecure teenager. Yet, the bond formed between Terri and Mr. Fitzgerald offers poignant, lighthearted, comedic moments that pump hope into Terri’s life. 

The movie is reminiscent of a John Hughes film minus the teen caricatures, bold soundtrack, and “The Brat Pack.” I really enjoyed Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles when I was growing up, but in some ways, I actually prefer Azazel’s take on those awkward teen years because of the film’s sincerity. Terri is due to be released in theaters in June, and was an Official Selection of the Sundance 2011 Film Festival.

Parenthood does Script Frenzy?

Anybody out there watch Parenthood? We’re big fans at my house: it’s got just the right combination of humor, drama, and Berkeley references to keep us occupied on Tuesday nights. (If you’re already a devotee, let’s just take a moment to privately acknowledge the nuttiness of the last few episodes. I was so stressed!)

Anyway, I’m bringing up the show here because it recently had a plot arc that was totally Script Frenzy-related. Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham—but always Lorelai Gilmore in my book) stayed up all night writing a stage script. Frenzied, right? Since then, we’ve followed her as she revises (with the help of Richard Dreyfuss—always Mr. Holland in my book), finds a backer, and ultimately sees her play performed at a fictional local theater.

Now, is it a coincidence that the show takes place in Berkeley—OLL’s home base—and has aired this subplot during our favorite scriptwriting month? Maybe, but I’d prefer to think that we’ve just gotten our first major network shout-out. Now, can we get those Glee kids to start working on novels in November?