OK everybody this is Rudy. Those of you that knew me during my "Myspace" days know that I used to write a "kinda"-blog called The Penguin Gazette...... well IT'S BACK!!!!! Those of you that didn't know me then.....get ready.
Dear "Entertainment",
Where have you gone? I flip the channels and see nothing but bullshit! Everything from talentless talent shows to publicly displaying people's overeating-pack-ratting-toilet paper consuming- useless housewives of the USA- BULLSHIT!!!!! I know its been going on for years with the "reality" shows,(and i use the word REALITY loosely) but honestly i thought it was going to be a phase. When did quality TV turn into watching people that "can't stop at just one", and stop being about great writing, damned good acting and that familiarity that came with all the great long-term sitcoms ( i.e. Cheers, Becker, Fraiser, News Radio, Third Rock from the Sun, MASH, The Wonder Years, LAW and Order the original Pre-Anthony Anderson because he fucks up everything he's in, and lets not forget the HOLY GRAIL of sitcoms THE COSBY SHOW)?
Even commercials have lost their flare and somehow at the same time have become so over the top they are ridiculous! Case in point: I was watching American Idol ( I know......) and there was a commercial for a movie called Water For Elephants, it stars that Nazi from Inglorious Bastards and that loser from Twit-light Rob Pattinson (had to clarify which loser cause there are so many). The commercial went on for a while, all huge and theatrical and at the end of it I hear this (tell me if you feel it too. By it I mean the urge to set fire to Hollywood) go to www.amazon.com to see the world premier trailer for this movie...... WHAT THE HELL? That's right its a trailer for......wait for it.......ANOTHER FUCKING TRAILER!!!!!! SHOOT ME!!! JUST FUCKING SHOOT ME!!!!Can somebody telly me why Hollywood just wasted 2 minutes of my life to give me a preview of a preview for a movie that I've probably just seen all the best parts of during that two minutes? Its because the entertainment world has gone to pot!
Since we are on the topic of movies, why the the hell are "we" remaking everything imaginable? Aren't there anymore good ideas? Remember when everything was original? I know, I know that is a foreign word to Hollywood now, but I'm having a hard time remembering a recent "original" movie from the last decade or so. Some people might say the Matrix or even more recently Inception, but even those are more or less a super-tech version/spin off of Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass. Worlds turned topsy-turvy by going through the "rabbit hole". The Matrix at least had the gull to make reference to it. Even Alice has been remade a few times itself. The Cartoon Disney made was acceptable because even though not really true to the book it more or less got the story out to kids and adults in a new way (at least for the time it was new), and lets not even get me going on the new "animation" of today. I'll just leave it at this.... computers don't animate. They make a bunch of minute zeros and ones that when formed together create a false-animation or "falsimation" as I will call it......probably from now on....yes I think i will.
Maybe its just me but I really miss the graceful graininess of a pencil gliding across the page creating that rich texture that a computer only wants to "sharpen" or better yet stifle. Yeah it takes talent to be able to manipulate the zeros and ones to simulate drawing technique that takes artist years to hone and master but to me there is no feeling involved. I think drawing on a computer is like cheating.... its done, but frowned upon. I think most artist would agree. If they start using computers to simulate all the cartoon making whats to stop them from using them to mock up paintings? With all our advances it could be just that. Then artists hard work become "old hat" like they want you to believe real animation is, even though a hand drawn picture of Bugs Bunny can go for thousands.
Now there is hope for Hollywood.... There are a select few shows that are trying to "fight the good fight" as it were. The How I Met Your Mother's, Grey's, Weeds, Dexter's etc. are doing their best to counter the evil "reality" virus. If we can get a few more David E. Kelly's and a lot less of "The Syphilitic Shore" I think that TV can come back from all the crap they are showing. Let me rephrase something..when I say the "reality virus" i don't mean all of reality TV. Shows that are educational in ways are GREAT!! Cooking shows, travel shows that show different cultures ( i.e. Bizarre Foods, No Reservations even Man VS Food because he gets different restauraunts noticed....plus Adam Richman is funny as hell), child development shows, how to shows etc. all make the cut for acceptable reality TV and therefore can be watched (not that you need my permission).
To sum it up... GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS HOLLYWOOD!!!! WE ARE WAITING FOR THE "PHASE" TO PASS!!!!
-Editor & Chief of The Penguin Gazette,
Rudy
P.S. I'd love to hear what you think about this topic. Comment below.
