Another David and Goliath

I resisted as long as possible, but I finally watched "Kings".  I knew it was created by one of the top writers and co-executive producers of "Heroes" (which we all know I love) and I really didn't want another hour long show to keep up with.  However, today I went to Hulu.com and watched the pilot episode.

It was pretty good for a pilot.  Very long, because they released it as a movie to kick off the show.  I was astonished at the sets and all the cash I could see that had gone into this pilot.  Check out the "Heroes" pilot.  It was also an ambitious show, but you could see the tight purse strings on the pilot.  I really like Chris Egan who plays David.  He is one of many actors NBC has hired from other countries to play Americans.  I wonder why?  Does Australia and England have superior television actors?  Anyway, his scenes were very moving and I love his portrayal of David so far, very midwestern.  So far, the other actors are also impressive.  The show is filled with "where have I seen this guy before" actors.  Eamonn Walker as Reverend Samuels is also a powerful presence on the screen.  I look forward to seeing more of him.

I'm not so sure about the premise of the show.  Usually when someone rips off the David and Goliath story, they're not so blunt about it.  This show is the re-telling of the Biblical story in a modern time.  I'll have to re-read the Biblical account to see how closely they stick with the story.  Some nods I've noticed beyond the basic plot line and character names:  David's harp is an antique piano, the Court Historian records history as the King sees fit in a very poetic and Biblical language, and they even manage to throw in the controversial topic of Jonathan's sexuality.

The show reminds me of another NBC show, "The West Wing":  well written, political, and visually dramatic.  I don't think this show will last as long as that one did.  We'll see if NBC gives the show another year, but I'm afraid the curse of the peacock has killed yet another show.  It'll be fun while it lasts, though.  Check it out.

What if Clark Kent Really Did Work for a Newspaper?

First, watch this video.

This is inspiring.  It really makes sense.  I receive the local paper daily in my box.  It's not free.  I hardly read it.  On Sundays, I look at the comics, Parade, and the ads.  I've already received my news from the internet, TV, and radio.  There's a local paper that's free and often has articles about things that are uber local, not regional like the big paper.  It also is better designed and is smaller, easier to read in tight spaces.  It's filled with local ads too.  Often ads the big paper would never publish, like the local strip club, but ads none the less.

If the big paper would prioritize the news to only publishing that which I go to the paper to read and maybe one or two huge stories that give a detail and local twist no other outlet provides, then the newspaper would have my attention.  If it looked pretty, flashy, but clean, I'd pick it up.  If it were free with well designed and placed ads, I'd read the ads.  The salvation of the local paper might not lie in websites that are over-loaded with content, video, and blogs.  Maybe the local paper just needs a little pizzazz.  Sure, from necessity and in respect for the earth, the actual paper newspaper we know may go away, but the elements should remain.  Uber local, fantastically framed and emotive photos, well written articles that are examples of perfect grammar, and ads that catch the eye.  

Television could learn from this as well.  Sure, it's getting cheaper and cheaper to make TV and all those innovative people you passed up because they weren't making cookie cutter TV are killing you now because they can afford to fund their own projects, but you're not dead and buried yet.  Quit looking at poll groups.  Quit over analyzing.  Look for innovation, style, talent, and cutting edge.  If your company becomes known for discovering and cultivating the next great thing, people will flock to you to find their newest obsession.  

Forget about ratings.  That's old stuff.  Find new ways to attract advertisers.  "Heroes" has done a great job with it.  I know two advertisers that are loyal to "Heroes": Sprint and Nissan.  I know this because they advertise in every show mentioning "Heroes" in their ads.  They advertise on all of "Heroes" web content.  They've stuck with "Heroes" for all three seasons.  This is one way to do it.  There are others.  Get your writers, directors, actors, and producers involved in thinking up ways to include the advertiser.

Radio, it applies to you as well.  Hire local personalities.  Play local bands.  Be active in the community.  If one station in each market did this, they'd kill the others.  The others are all computers.

The answer to improving your company isn't automation; it's personalization.  People are loyal to people.  A company laying off employees doesn't garner support.  A company that hires excellent minds and shows how creative and non-boring it can be; people will line up at the door and wear t-shirts with the company's logo on the front (especially if the logo is well designed).

A Word About Life

All these blogs on my favorite shows and though I've mentioned it, I've never dedicated a whole blog to one of my favorites, "Life".  I love the USA network's theme of great characters and I've loved how NBC has picked up on some of that as well.  Detective Cruise is a great character.  He's got a great back story.  Happily married and a cop, he had a great life until he was framed for murder.  12 years later, he's released from prison when his lawyer proved he was innocent.  Now he's back on the force as a detective who has more than enough money to be set for life, but still works murder cases.

So, on the surface, kinda ho-hum, right?  Nope!  The writers for this show are good.  This guy was a cop behind bars, that's like having a target on your forehead.  He learned to survive.  He has no luxuries for 12 years, including taste.  Now, he can't walk past a piece of fruit without tasting it.  He searches for exotic fruit and has it shipped.  He buys fast cars and a big house, but there's something else to Cruise besides extravagance.  While he was in prison, he found Zen.  He might have the big house, but it's empty.  He might have fancy cars, but he's trying his hardest not to care much about them.  He does care about one thing though, finding out who framed him and who killed his friends.  Now we have the sub-plot to each episode.  

The show's good because the stories pull you in, they're both stand-alone and serial, but the show's great because of Cruise.  Like House, Monk, Shawn and Gus ("Psych"), "Life" is more about Detective Cruise and his thought process than it is actually about the plot this week.  There's something about this way of storytelling - really delving into characters and developing them so that the audience knows them so well they could write scripts - that forms a loyal and dedicated fan base.  I think it's because for the hour this show is on you're feeling/thinking like these characters... and the funnest part... they're so out there yet so identifiable, it's like being someone you totally aren't.  Isn't that why we love tv/books/radio/film?  The trip, the challenges, the exhilaration?

Watch "Life" on Hulu.

The Day the Music Died

Whenever I hear that song, I think of all the great musicians who died before their time: Buddy Holly, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday,Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, and tons more. The 50s, 60s, and 70s were such a tremendous growth period for American music. Now, we hear the phrases "canned music", "prerecorded vocal tracks" and "auto-tune". I have been wondering what happened to the music industry for years. Until I started using iTunes, Myspace, and launch.com to help me find musicians, I had a hard time finding great music. Sure, there's the occasional pop song that's so catchy, so well done that it's hard to ignore it as it plays over and over on the radios. Britney Spears is a great example. "Hit Me Baby, One More Time" was so catchy that I can sing every word despite the fact that I don't think Britney is a especially talented singer. However, musicians that push the genres and continue to evolve and cultivate their music are often ignored.

"Before the Music Dies" (on hulu) is a documentary examining the plight of the musician and just why the music industry has changed so drastically.  They talk to legends like Eric Clapton and Dave Matthews about where the industry is going and what they think can be done.  They talk to executives in radio and in the recording industry about how they chose who gets air time and who doesn't.  They also get advice from the musicians about making music in this environment.  

I really enjoyed this film.  It's not just about the music industry.  It's about American industry.  Everything is getting watered down.  The thinking is as long as it doesn't taste bad, it's good.  The great thing about recessions are they are like wildfires going around clearing the fields.  Now is the time for small business seeds to blow in and enrich the soil again.  It's time for the big guys to fall and the little guys to pick up the pieces.  Sure, it means we'll all have to live uncomfortably for a while, but it won't be long before innovation, invention, inspiration and independence from big business brings America back to her feet.

America, wake up!  Demand the best artists by supporting local bands.  Go to the free concerts in the city.  Buy tickets to the opera and symphony concerts.  Visit your local art museums and by art from locals instead of the poster company online.  Shop at your local farmer's market.  Listen to the independent radio stations and call in requests for up and coming artists.  Go to the local guy's restaurant instead of the chain store.  Go to the local hardware store instead of Walmart.  Yes, times are hard and yes, those big businesses are important to the economy.  You won't shut them down.  Eventually, you'll have to go to the Walmart or the grocery store, but go to the local guys first.  

I can smell the fresh turned soil and I'm ready for America's rebirth.  It's time for a revolution.  Don't wait on the US government.  Use your pocketbooks, use your time, use your resources to change the world.  Don't be another brick in the wall.  Don't eat from a can.  Demand more.

Time to Change?

I have several sites pointing to this blog.  I'm looking for a job and one of those sites is LikedIn.  I never really liked the name I stuck this blog with, I'm thinking of changing it.  Of course, with the name change comes a URL change.  Still, with the problems that may cause, I think it needs to be done.  It seems that there's a pattern of my blogs.  They're always about TV, Movies, and Music.  So, time to change?  I think so.  I'd appreciate any name changes you might think of.  I'll be wracking my brain myself.

*UPDATE* 

I changed it.  I decided to keep the URL, for now at least.  I changed the title to "What Misty's Playing" and made a simple header using FCP's Motion.  I've decided to focus on all things Media.  Including websites, which I haven't included in my header, but don't expect to review as many of them.  

Taking it to the House

I resisted watching "House" for years.  I'm not sure why... it's on Fox?  I really don't know.  I poo pooed other's enthusiasm for it, writing it off as just another medical drama.  I've watched 8 episodes or so now, it's not just another medical drama.  I dismissed it as this jerk who was mean to everyone.  He's not just a jerk.  In fact, as I watch each show I'm surprised I was engaged and enjoyed myself and look forward to the next episode.  It is so far outside my usual tastes when you look at the show on the surface.

The thing is... I think I like House.  Just like all the characters on the show, I respect him because he is a genius.  His staff brings him a bunch of pieces to a puzzle, lay them on the table, he looks at them and says, "it's a cat by a vase of flowers" and walks away.  They put the pieces together, sure enough, it's a cat by a vase of flowers.  Ok, that doesn't happen, but you understand, right?

Medical mysteries he excels at, but he struggles with his social skills.  He's in a tremendous amount of pain, therefor a jerk.  Also, he's highly analytical and everything becomes a puzzle to him.  With puzzles, his mind is off his pain.  Everything is a chance to test and prove theories, a chance to push and pull people for his own amusement.  I find this incredibly interesting.  Not so much the actual things that happen in the show, though they usually are, but the idea of this happening in real life.  I like the idea of predicting how people will react if you do this or say that.  We already do this, action and consequence, but we don't actively test other people just to find out what the consequence is.  Children do.  I guess I do to an extent.  Maybe we all do, we just don't take it to the extreme House does because we value having friends.  House, however, is exceedingly good at it.  Imagine how refreshing it would be to have House as your shrink.  Well, to some, it would be a nightmare, but I think I'd like brutal honesty.  I'd like to taste it anyway.

Mostly though, I like "House" because I find myself thinking the entire episode.  I identify with House.  I can't predict what's wrong with the patient, it's not the mystery of it.  That's why I like to watch some shows, the who-done-it factor.  Not this show.  No, this show is more about House pushing and pulling me.  When he is asking questions, I'm thinking of my answer.  When he gives the answer, I try to figure out if he's right or not.  

House loves to figure out everyone else's puzzles, but ignores his own.  I think I'm like House in that way, but I also wonder what it would be like to have a friend figure out all your puzzles for you.  Would it matter if they did?

This is how you know you're watching a good show.  This is why "Heroes" is often good, it questioned meaning of life, religion, morality.  This is why "Life" is good.  He also is on a quest of self discovery and discipline.  If a show can make you think after the credits roll, it's more than a show, it's art.

Watch "House" on Hulu.

The Color Gray

Heroes is better than ever. Seriously, you need to watch this show Monday nights on NBC at 9PM eastern!

Heroes has cool special effects and people who can fly and do other cool things, but if that was all Heroes was, it would just be another superhero show. Heroes is about so much more. It's about relating with people, making decisions, how your actions can effect not just those around you - but maybe even the future or the whole world. Of course, it's hard to think of others when you have your own problems and that brings us to a central theme of Heroes. "Morally gray" characters and decisions are sprinkled throughout each episode. The king of morally gray is "HRG" or Noah Bennett.

A few episodes into Season One we learned that HRG was a family man. Everything he did, he justified as being 'for the family'. Kill someone, it was to protect his daughter Claire. Betray his friends, Claire again. And then, half way through Season Three, the people he worked for gave him his freedom. They gave him his retirement money and told him to go home to his family. Turns out, he missed his job. He didn't always do things to protect his family, sometimes it was because he ENJOYED his work!

Now, his wife kicked him out of the house and he has nothing left but his job. Still, he's comfortable with morally gray... extremely comfortable. He has practically sold his soul to the devil.

Speaking of the devil, Sylar lives in his own morally gray area, though the rest of us might call it black...

It's interesting to think of a character like Sylar, who is a serial killer having some sort of moral standard. Yet, he views himself as a character not unlike HRG, a man who lives in the morally gray area of life. I think watching Sylar self-analyze and push himself to the extremities of good and evil is one of the most interesting aspects of the show. The episode "Dual" from Volume 3 is one of the best in this respect. Sylar does the opening narration and forces the other characters to choose whether they'll be angels or monsters. It's like a mad scientist with his lab rats.

We're all teetering one bad decision from morally gray. It's hard to balance the needs of others and our own desires. Heroes just has more adventuresome extremes than most of our humdrum lives!

"Viva la libertad — A Friend."