Quote of the day

From the Associated Baptist Press website:

"And, frighteningly, Christians seem at the very least to be as susceptible as the population at large to the habit of spreading false stories."

Read the full story HERE.

Alan Ball, "Six Feet Under- Season 1"

There are certain consumer choices and behaviors that seem to mark individuals as members of the American mainstream. An almost unwholesome obsession with sports (mostly in a strictly voyeuristic sense) is one of them. Another is an addiction to cable television. Every once in awhile someone who I don't know very well will assume that I share these proclivities, and launch into a subject using names and terms that are unfamiliar to me. When this happens I have a few options. I can quickly change the subject to something I do know about. I can remain relatively silent and nod my head as if I understand completely. Or I can explain that I don't participate in these "activities" in any meaningful way.

Usually, if I respect the person I'm talking with, I'll opt for that last choice. I'm always prepared for a quick end to such a conversation. And it's often a relief to me when that expectation is realized. I find most of the programs (and sporting events) that the average media consumer prefers boring. I can't exactly trace the development of my attitude. When I was a kid, I watched all the popular shows. But at some undefined point in my early 20's, most of the stuff on television ceased to compel me to continue watching. It just didn't seem relevant to the things I was experiencing in my life. A lot of material that I would have once laughed at or been excited by seemed contrived. I suppose I lost some friends when this happened.

After awhile I discovered ways to find things that did resonate with my life. The internet came around at the ideal time, and access expanded to a point that I could identify films, books, and music that challenged and intrigued me. For years I built collections of items that I felt would be essential. Over time I had to cast my sights further afield to ferret out the gems. Through a strange and circuitous inverted path, I have recently found myself buying DVDs of television programs that I missed along the way. The latest series I've been exploring is the HBO production Six Feet Under. It was a quirky show broadcast between 2001 and 2005. Alan Ball, the writer of American Beauty, created the concept.

Six Feet Under garnered a lot of critical acclaim and many awards. Some have made the claim that it was one of the best dramas ever made for television. While I tend to avoid that type of superlative- after watching the first season I can recommend it as a quality show. It concerns a family that owns and operates a funeral parlor. Ruth Fisher (Frances Conroy) is a middle-aged widow with three (mostly) adult children who all have a tendency to keep their inner lives repressed. The oldest (Nate, played by Peter Krause) has been brought back to his childhood home by the death of his father, after casting about in a Northwestern slacker existence for a decade-and-a-half. His reluctant reintegration is facilitated by a developing relationship with Brenda (played by Rachel Griffiths), a brilliant but troubled young woman raised under the close scrutiny of two eminent psychologists.

Middle child David (Michael C. Hall) is the presumptive head of the family business. He's inherited his tendency to be a control freak from his mother, and is struggling to come to terms with his repressed homosexuality. And then there is Claire (Lauren Ambrose), the baby of the family, who has her own adolescent difficulties dealing with being the high school "freak". All of the principles are competent (if not outstanding) actors, and their performances benefit from the quirky plot threads and dialog written into the show. Obviously death plays a large role as an organizing theme. There is ample dark humor included to temper the constant background of tragedy that permeates the narrative arc.

Perhaps the most admirable aspect of Six Feet Under is its unflinching willingness to confront controversial subject matter in an apparently honest way. There are certainly elements of magical realism threading through the episodes, but they never distract from the impression that the viewer is watching an essentially truthful depiction of an unusual American tableau. Ultimately that's what attracts me to the show- I find it insightful enough to keep watching, even when it hits the occasional awkward note. I don't know whether or not I'll make it through the full run, but what I've seen so far has justified its existence.

Why I Had to Watch "Blades of Glory", and Will Look Upon My Friends' Recommendations as Forever Suspect From Now On.

So my birthday was last week, and I met up with a couple of friends* a few days later. They are well aware of my disdain for Hollywood comedies, and they continue to insist that I'm missing out by not giving in to the charms of their favorites. I meanwhile remain steadfastly committed to avoid wasting my time. But my pals are insidious and manipulative. Knowing that I'd be obligated to watch if they slipped it in with the original art they blessed me with, they included a copy of Blades of Glory in my gift bag. I was honestly crestfallen and immediately resigned to viewing this dreck. And I promised that I'd review the thing on my blog. Well, here it is folks. I can only hope that by giving in I have finally earned the right not to be subjected to this crap in the future.

There was trouble right off the bat, as soon as I popped the DVD in. The previews were all CGI, explosions, and kiddie films. Nothing I'd ever be tempted to see. I understood immediately that the intended demographic was the group of regressed adults who would be excited by a live action version of Transformers, presented through the filters of Michael Bay. I'm talking about the type of audience that considers Shrek a multi-layered viewing experience. There was even a promo for a Will Ferrell mega-pack, the consumption of which looked akin to being subjected to waterboarding. Trailers are supposed to contain the funniest bits of the movies they promote, right? You'd think after making six (or so) flicks that Ferrell could cobble together three minutes of diverting highlights. But you'd be wrong.

The next red flag was the revelation that Blades of Glory was released under the MTV Films imprint. Uh-oh. And produced by Ben Stiller. It figures. Then within the first six minutes the viewer is assaulted with totally arbitrary product placements for Bud Lite and Skittles. There's the clichéd setup to launch the story- we get to see one half of the stellar comic duo (played by Jon Heder) as the golden haired effeminate orphan (named Jimmie MacElroy) being targeted for future stardom. That's the character development- a series of mildly amusing set pieces delivered in a few brief minutes. The filmmakers don't want to lose the audience with any depth. Then flash-forward to MacElroy's present success, and introduce the ridiculous black-and-white "conflict". We meet the hypermasculine Yang to Jimmnie's Ying- Chazz Michael Michaels, who's portrayed by Will Ferrell in his inimitably wry style. Oh yeah... and there's a Capri Sun ad at 14 minutes, just as we are bludgeoned with foreshadowing indicating that Heder and Farrell will eventually become a (gasp!) same-sex figure skating pair.

You might think that all of the crass marketing is merely incidental. After all, folks do consume the products that appear on screen. Maybe it's just a coincidence that the paid sponsors all have their products featured with their labels clearly centered and inescapable. When Ferrell breaks that bottle of Captain Morgan, it might be just a lucky break for the corporate powers that the glass shatters immediately above the clearly identifiable sticker. Yet later there's a scene with Jimmie working in a sporting goods store, and throughout the run of it not a single brand name is shown. Not one. Apparently those companies didn't pay to play. When was the last time you were at a sporting goods store? In case it's been awhile, I'll remind you that the manufacturers' logos are EVERYWHERE. Same goes when our heroes eat out at a fast food joint. I've never been at a single one that didn't have every wall plastered with ads. Maybe they have no sense of humor either.

Anyway, I'm not going to get into the merits of the story or the writing. I've already offended fans of this movie. There's everything I expected- juvenile surface humor and inane physical gags. I had a hard time seeing it through. But I have to say that I am more troubled than I expected to be after watching it. Perhaps there's nothing particularly devious about the encouragement of rampant consumerism. Still, movie-watchers are paying to see these feature length commercials. Make no mistake- in between the sophomoric jokes and the homoeroticism, Blades of Glory is pushing product.

While the easily amused are yucking it up, these messages enter their subconscious. Obviously they want you to buy their shit, just as the film's producers believe you will buy into their canned jokes. The state of laughter makes the viewer particularly open to suggestion. Nationwide, Trojan, XBox, Dunkin Donuts, Crest White Strips, Subway, Orbitz... these are paraded before our eyes throughout the movie, with no pretext of naturalism and very little appropriate relationship to the story. I guess I should just be thankful that I didn't laugh.


*Please note that I have chosen to protect the identities of those involved.

They Know You'll Like It.

I know I've written on the topic of humor before, but I believe that a lot of what I said in that earlier post bears repeating. The problem is that people tend not to believe me when I say I'm not going to appreciate their particular favorite. "Why don't you just give it a chance? How can you say you won't like it if you aren't willing to give it a try?" The answers to these questions are fairly basic because I provide them so often. The one thing in our existence that is absolutely finite is time. We've only got so many hours to spend, and many of them are used for sleeping and working. I value my leisure time as much as just about anything in my life. It's crucially important that I spend it with forethought and reflection.

So no... I'm not ever going to see Blades of Glory. You can keep your copy to yourself. I'm not going to see the new Seth Rogan or Judd Apatow flicks. Watching The 40 Year Old Virgin is not part of my plan. I know that you think it's funny, and that you are convinced that I'm "missing out". I'm willing to live with that. No matter how hard you try to persuade me that I'll find that wacky decapitation scene funny, I have to assure you that I won't. You can also keep your dick-caught-in-zipper, turd in the swimming pool, latent homosexual, masturbatory humor, etc. Please accept my assertion that I am not judging you or your tastes. I am no better or more discriminate a viewer... we simply have different preferences when it comes to comedy.

I don't appreciate being told that the reason I prefer not to see these movies is because I am an "elitist". My aesthetic has almost nothing to do with what groups of people feel about a specific item. There are lots of folks who found Borat hilarious, and I agree with them. But on the other hand there were a host of viewers who felt that Dumb and Dumber was a comic masterpiece. Not me... no thanks. Maybe if I smoked pot I would understand why that was such a popular movie. However, I am not going to start doing drugs just so I can groove on that vibe. Again- your life is your own, and you are welcome to it. There will be plenty of common ground for us to share, so don't get offended.

I've come to the conclusion that humor is one of the most arbitrary and personal amusements in existence. Try asking someone why they think one thing is funny, and yet another is not. You'll quickly come to discover that few people have a vocabulary to describe the process. If you don't feel the same way, they will simply repeat a quote or two and stare at you in befuddlement if you don't laugh. Still I've analyzed my own sense of humor at length. I don't like physical comedy. I've never enjoyed the Three Stooges and I find early Woody Allen flicks boring. I don't like frat boy jokes, or juvenile hijinks. I can't find any pleasure in watching pratfalls. And I can do without the bleary stoner stuff that so many embrace nowadays.

On the other hand, I do enjoy surreality in everyday life. I am tickled by caustic and sarcastic wit. Give me "dark humor" any day of the week... the more transgressive the better. I also like dense, thickly layered, multileveled, and subtle comedy. If I am in a light mood, I can get into watching awkward social situations play out. Along those lines, I've recently gotten into Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm and anything with Ricky Gervais. When I first saw The Office (the original British version) I was struck dumb. Since then I get more out of each repeated viewing. Now I'm loving Extras. Maybe you could characterize it as "sociological humor". But whatever it is, it just so happens to resonate with me.