Short Takes.
I did a lot of thinking about what I wanted to write about for this entry of the blog. There's a lot of stuff going on right now. I could join the masses and delve into the 80 seconds of video that makes up the new Star Wars teaser trailer, I could talk about Sons of Anarchy and how it became a show I love to hate, I could talk about how The Newsroom is ending this week and how it depresses me to no end, or I could talk about how i'm now sleeping with a god awful night guard and how it may be ruining my life. I was going to discuss only one of these things but then I thought this is my blog and I can do whatever I want. Thus begins the first edition of "short takes".
1. Star Wars The Force Awakens Teaser Trailer.
Have 80 seconds of video ever gotten so much attention? I would venture to say no. A couple of weeks in the United States they celebrated Thanksgiving while the rest of the world celebrated Forcegiving. Disney finally released a teaser trailer for the new JJ Abrahams helmed Star Wars film entitled Star Wars The Force Awakens. The first thing that you will all notice is that this film is not being marketed as Star Wars Episode 7 The Force Awakens. I imagine this is probably a way to distance these films as much as possible from the prequel movies which are largely viewed as a disappointment by many fans. The next you will notice is that there is no reveal of characters from the original trilogy. That to me just shows that they will not be front and center in the new movies. This is going to be a story that is going to be focusing on new characters, sure will see Han, Luke, and Leia but this not their movie. The opening of the trailer hit me right away that this truly is a JJ Abrahms movie. George Lucas' Star Wars movie featured very steady camera shots, rarely would you see a long steadycam shot or rapid movement when it wasn't a space battle, The opening shot of this trailer is a shot almost directly lifted from the pilot for Lost when Jack is looking at the plane wreckage and the camera moves around him to reveal it. Another thing I noticed is this is definitely going for the design aesthetic of the older films. It looks gritty and worn. The last thing I want to mention about this trailer is that the lightsaber looks pretty cool. it also looks gritty in a way. It looks a little wavy and unpolished. Really looking forward to this flick and future trailers.
2. Thank God Sons of Anarchy is Over.
I mean it when I say that thank God this show over. At the beginning I actually really liked this show. It had some likable characters, there were characters in conflict with themselves and what they were doing, and at the beginning you actually believed that the motor cycle club albeit a group of criminals did what they thought was best for their families and their fictional community of Charming, California. At the end of the show this was certainly not this case. At the end I hated the show and all of it's characters. I just had so much invested I couldn't stop watching. The show just became all about revenge killings, prison rapes, and systematically eliminating every character that the audience ever cared about. Thank god it's over.
3. The Newsroom is Ending.
This is arguably the best show on TV right now and it has one episode left. Now a lot of critics and journalists do not like this show and I cannot blame them in fact I almost understand that, Aaron Sorkin's work has always been thoughtful and insightful but The Newsroom is borderline diatribe to the political right and the media. This show often attacks the very people who are reviewing it. As an example this season Sorkin criticized journalists who are paid based on how many times their articles are clicked on. Now this recent trend in journalism is unfortunate and has also unfortunately created the phenomenon of "click bait" but it's the new reality of the world. Not every writer coming out of journalism school can go out and work for the New York Times. That's not where the jobs are and just because your not writing for the New York times doesn't mean what you have to say is worth reading, nor does how your paid in my opinion. That being said I still love this show and all of Sorkin's previous work. I'm sad that this show never found an audience and that Sorkin is giving it up to work on other projects, If any of you have not seen this show go out and buy the DVD or something because it is fantastically acted, well produced, well written, and incredibly entertaining.
4. Stupid Teeth Grinding.
A couple of months ago I went to the dentist, which is not unusual. This particular trip to the dentist however was made out to me like it was the end of days. Apparently I was a great risk of losing all of the enamel at my teeth. It was explained to me that apparently I am brushing too vigorously and I grind my teeth while I sleep. So voila a couple of weeks and a couple hundred dollars later I am now sleeping with a night guard. At first it didn't seem that bad. I was comfortable having it in my mouth and didn't seem to bother me. It seems to be bothering my sleep however. I'm not getting a full sleep anymore - I'm waking up 3 or 4 times a night...maybe I'm just crazy but I think this blasted thing may even be giving me nightmares. I'm probably just crazy.
Well that concludes this installment of short takes here on the blog. As usual I hope you find your time on this site to be time (and bandwidth) well wasted.
2. Thank God Sons of Anarchy is Over.
I mean it when I say that thank God this show over. At the beginning I actually really liked this show. It had some likable characters, there were characters in conflict with themselves and what they were doing, and at the beginning you actually believed that the motor cycle club albeit a group of criminals did what they thought was best for their families and their fictional community of Charming, California. At the end of the show this was certainly not this case. At the end I hated the show and all of it's characters. I just had so much invested I couldn't stop watching. The show just became all about revenge killings, prison rapes, and systematically eliminating every character that the audience ever cared about. Thank god it's over.
3. The Newsroom is Ending.
This is arguably the best show on TV right now and it has one episode left. Now a lot of critics and journalists do not like this show and I cannot blame them in fact I almost understand that, Aaron Sorkin's work has always been thoughtful and insightful but The Newsroom is borderline diatribe to the political right and the media. This show often attacks the very people who are reviewing it. As an example this season Sorkin criticized journalists who are paid based on how many times their articles are clicked on. Now this recent trend in journalism is unfortunate and has also unfortunately created the phenomenon of "click bait" but it's the new reality of the world. Not every writer coming out of journalism school can go out and work for the New York Times. That's not where the jobs are and just because your not writing for the New York times doesn't mean what you have to say is worth reading, nor does how your paid in my opinion. That being said I still love this show and all of Sorkin's previous work. I'm sad that this show never found an audience and that Sorkin is giving it up to work on other projects, If any of you have not seen this show go out and buy the DVD or something because it is fantastically acted, well produced, well written, and incredibly entertaining.
4. Stupid Teeth Grinding.
A couple of months ago I went to the dentist, which is not unusual. This particular trip to the dentist however was made out to me like it was the end of days. Apparently I was a great risk of losing all of the enamel at my teeth. It was explained to me that apparently I am brushing too vigorously and I grind my teeth while I sleep. So voila a couple of weeks and a couple hundred dollars later I am now sleeping with a night guard. At first it didn't seem that bad. I was comfortable having it in my mouth and didn't seem to bother me. It seems to be bothering my sleep however. I'm not getting a full sleep anymore - I'm waking up 3 or 4 times a night...maybe I'm just crazy but I think this blasted thing may even be giving me nightmares. I'm probably just crazy.
Well that concludes this installment of short takes here on the blog. As usual I hope you find your time on this site to be time (and bandwidth) well wasted.
