Having cute and ferocious female tigers with big boobs might not be generally considered the peak of sophisitication among science fiction afficionados, but the level of plot and design in general is higher than the screaming tiger lady would have you expect. The Japanese is simple enough to give this apprentice at Japanese occasional thrills of recognition (He said Ikemashoo! He said Ikemashoo!), and that almost seals the deal. But I think I’ll still stop watching this after episode three. So much to see, so little time.

English, Japan, Language, Science Fiction, TV, Western/Eastern | No Comments »

Come Oscar time, I usually display a reasonable level of excitement, and like to watch the ceremony if possible. This year, however, like all his other urban slacker fans – to paraphrase O’Reilly – I absolutely had to, because Jon Stewart hosted, promising more than the usual detached entertainment narrative for a show that is, after all, the biggest self-reflective event for today’s dominant art form. And Stewart, while maybe not as hilariously funny as his fans are used to seeing him, did a terrific job of bringing relevance to the self-congratulation. Edgy comments abounded, yet he never got sharp enough to allow easy dismissal. The awards themselves were less exciting, with the winning of Best Picture by Crash and, of course, the Oscar for Best Original Song going to Three 6 Mafia – which you can view either as the victory of black underground culture, or the completion of its sellout, depending – and the endless stream of masturbatory montages being outright painful to watch.

The most interesting thing I learned, however, wasn’t directly related to the Oscars at all. We do not have cable, and to see the ceremony I had to cycle through the rain and buy some rabbit ears at RadioShack. And after a full night of ABC, with its utterly stupid society journalists and a barrage of advertising cutting everything into debilitating chunks of fast paced cutting, I fully recall why it is I don’t watch TV any more. It’s because that shit makes me agressive, bitch. I guess it’s finally all right to write stuff like that on a family oriented blog. Big thanks to Three 6 Mafia for that.

English, Good, TV | No Comments »

It is probably a bit unfair to review this while I’ve only seen less than half the episodes, but already it’s very obvious that the strength of this series lies in the meticulous presentation of Victorian England. Costumes, sets, acting and direction are masterfully recreating the times of Dickens, and are a pure pleasure to watch. The plot itself, is typical for Dickens, a big, crude soap opera, full of drama and dark secrets, but if it is presented so lusciously – who cares?

Drama, English, Good, History, TV | No Comments »

I don’t know a whole lot about Roman history, nor about the small details of everyday life in the days when the republic turned empire, but this series does quite a good job of creating a believable backdrop for Caesar’s conquests and the adventures of the two soldier goons who carry the show through wit and humor, an echo maybe of the concept behind Asterix and Obelix. The frequent focus on sex as the driving force behind the political upheavals looks suspiciously like an excuse for eyecandy, but the same could probably be said for the whole show. Nothing wrong with that, anyway.

English, Europe, Good, History, TV | No Comments »

I lost interest in this overblown, thickly layered soap opera somewhere in season two, but when I heard that the final episode was exceptionally well done, and the bothersome Nate would finally die, I thought it might be nice closure to watch it. Unfortunately, the, err, video supply store, accidentally delivered the final episode of season three, and not until the final minutes of that tedious, overdramatized convolution of plots did that fact dawn on me. What a waste of an hour.

The true final episode then wasn’t quite as bad, but somewhat disappointing. Until the moment when Claire drives away from LA, Nate’s ghost jogs down in her rear view mirror, and the future of all the characters is revealed, up to their deaths. That this touched me, even though I didn’t care for any one of the characters, speaks to the quality of the sequence. But if you’re like me, and want to see it, skip the first 40 minutes of the episode. They’re just business as usual.

All Right, Drama, English, Good, TV | No Comments »

When I realized three minutes into the movie, that the script had swapped Ged/Sparrowhawk’s true and public names, I suspected impending doom. It’s a minor detail, but it betrays all the reckless disrespect and cluelessness, as well as the love affair with superficial deepness (Sparrowhawk! Doesn’t it just sound more magical!) that makes this one of the most horrid adaptations of written material to the screen I’ve ever seen. So much money and effort, so foolishly and pointlessly wasted, with some of the most subtle storytelling in fiction warped into a crude, martial mockery. The only good thing about this disgrace is that in contrast, Le Guin’s books shine all the more. If you think you want to watch this, shoot yourself in the foot instead and moan for three hours. At least that way you’ll have learned something.

Crap, English, Fantasy, TV | No Comments »

If you’ve watched this show at all, it doesn’t come as news to you that oftentimes hilarity is caused by it. But recent episode five of season three, titled Mr. F, surpasses anything they’ve done so far. The whole episode is an elaborate sequence of absurd coincidences that set up a climactic scene, where a group of Japanese investors is shown a miniature city (which they believe to be the real size model homes they are about to help finance) being trashed by Tobias in a mole suit and George Michael with a jet pack. I have not seen anything so funny on TV in quite a long time. Sheerr brilliance.

Drama, English, Must See, Satire, TV | No Comments »

Nature berichtet in seiner aktuellen Ausgabe, dass man einen britischen Tierversuchs-Lobbyisten für eine Fernsehsendung den Alltag eines Versuchsnagetiers nacherleben liess. Unter anderem musste er dabei teuflisch warme Fussböden und brutal trockengefönte Haare erdulden. Wir Nagerfreunde begrüssen dergleichen Kaspereien natürlich, nicht nur als soliden Beitrag zu einer komplexen Diskussion, sondern auch als ersten Schritt in eine bessere Welt; denn erst wenn alle Menschen leben wie die Ratten ist unser Auftrag erfüllt. Oder Karnickel. Oder eben Vizcachas, wir sind da flexibel.

Vielleicht darf man sogar hoffen, bei der Ausstrahlung der Sendung am 14. Dezember auch eins der berüchtigtsten Rattenexperimente am Lobbyisten nachgestellt zu sehen; das nämlich, bei dem ermittelt wurde, um wieviel länger Ratten sich durch Strampeln vorm Ertrinken retten, wenn man ihnen zuvor den Eindruck verschafft hat, man würde sie schon beizeiten da rausholen. Zugegeben, das Originalexperiment ist recht alt, wurde schon in den 50er Jahren durchgeführt und würde heutzutage von keiner Ethikkomission mehr genehmigt. Aber ein kleines bisschen Unsachlichkeit ist ein geringer Preis für eine unterhaltsame Sendung, und zudem sind Lobbyisten ja in der Regel auch nicht mehr die Jüngsten.

(Dieser Beitrag erscheint parallel bei der Riesenmaschine).

Deutsch, History, Miniaturen, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Politics, Science, TV | No Comments »

The first thing I noticed when seeing this shot of Bush during his recent visit to Argentina were the rolled up sleeves, maybe because they’re so blatantly obvious, maybe because I was primed by the recently leaked email correspondence of then FEMA director Michael Brown, where he was advised to roll up his sleeves to appear more hardworking, while people in the hurrican’s wake were struggling to stay alive.

I realize, of course, that if a public person just behaves naturally, the resulting image will be anything close to honest. But doesn’t it seem odd that it is accepted, or indeed expected, of trusted public figures to be deliberately deceptive about themselves and mislead everybody?

And because I just finished it, I’ll throw in a little anecdote from de Waal’s book (see below). One day the then alpha male of the chimpanzee colony at Arnhem Zoo was challenged. He stood up very manly to the threat and showed no weakness. But after he had won, when he turned away and his face wasn’t visible to his rival any more, he immediately expressed his insecurity and fear in a wide, anxious grin. But who would compare Bush to a chimp, really?

Animals, English, Neuroscience, Politics, Science, TV | No Comments »