Dog With A Blog...

Recently, while watching TV, I came across a commercial for the new Disney show called Dog With a Blog. What is the show about? This is the premise of the show as told by Wikipedia..."Avery Jennings and Tyler James are step-siblings who hate each other but come together in episode 1 . The family faces an even bigger adjustment when they discover that their new dog, Stan, can talk and also has a blog, unknown to the family. Stan uses his blog to discuss the happenings in the Jennings-James household. Avery and Tyler later learn of Stan's talking ability and agree to keep it a secret from their parents." Well that sounds like a rich idea. Are you kidding me? This is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard and when I saw the commercial, I though it was some kind of joke making fun of shows for kids. My post last week was about  how networks such as Nickelodeon and Disney fail to produce programming with quality writing and teach lessons that are age appropriate. More and more shows being produced on such networks are filled with undeserving laugh tracks and ridiculous plot lines. Disney original movies were once praised by viewers and taught meaningful lessons. For example, Disney's Johnny Tsunami (1999) taught about overcoming bullying and breaking racial barriers. Brink (1998) was about friends staying together, making right decisions, and working to beat the overpaid, egotistical inline rollerblade team. The list of past movies goes on and on but note that these movies weren't made recently. Disney needs to get their act together and produce TV shows that mold the minds of young children rather than turn them into mush. Here's an idea for Disney; how about there's a family that moves into an old house and everything is gone except the old refrigerator and when someone gets ice out of the freezer, it starts to talk and give advice to the kids. The father of the children would be played by Rob Schneider and the refrigerator's voice would be played by Sinbad or someone equivalent to his relevancy. Just kidding, this idea is awful but when Dog With a Blog exists, I feel as if I could walk into Disney and pitch the idea of a talking refrigerator. Mark my words, I will restore humanity and produce shows that teach lessons and impact children's lives rather than turn them into idiots. Where is the modern day Boy Meets World? I need to take what I've seen when I was a kid and recreate shows that are meaningful and age appropriate. 

This is Dog With A Blog...

Underdog Story

Last week I wrote a blog about Woody Allen's film Midnight in Paris.  Despite accumulating close to 20 views,  my hours and hours of hard work was not recognized by my professor.  Even though my feelings were temporarily hurt I decided right then and there that I wouldn't let it hold me down.  With this blog post, I hope to generate the highest number of views in "Blogger" history.  If that doesn't happen, at least give me an A for the submission!
-Kofi Boundy

The Wackness

The first thing I heard about this movie before I saw it was “Josh Peck from Drake and Josh is a drug dealer in this! And is such a boss.” My mouth dropped, how could the fat goofy kid I grew up watching on Nickelodean be taken seriously as a young pot dealer in New York City in the mid 90’s? Well of course I had to see this for myself to decide. 

The movie is about Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) who begins to deal weed out of an Italian-Ice cart on the Upper East side of Manhattan because his family is on the verge of eviction. He is very depressed and sees a therapist named Dr. Squires (who is also one of his main drug clients) Dr. Squires has a step-daughter named Stephanie who Luke falls inevitably in love with. This film shows his first taste of heartbreak and his overall steps to maturity. His relationship with Dr. Squires makes him grow up a little bit faster then he intended to. The cast is what makes this movie so enjoyable, with Mary-Kate Olsen as a drugged out hippy and Method Man as his drug dealer Percy.

One thing I really admired about the film is the authenticity. Taking place in 1994, the soundtrack is all hip-hop that was current in the time period. Notably Notorious B.I.G, Raekwon, Faith Evans, A tribe called Quest and the Method Man. Many of the songs also fit in with what was going on in the plot at the time and is tied together smoothly. Although Josh is a white kid acting gangster, he plays the role well without looking like he was trying too hard. 

Another aspect that really made the film feel authentic was the desaturated color in the shots. It made the movie seem old and dream-like. Since there is a lot of pot smoking in the movie, the desaturation also made the movie have a hazy feel to it.  There are also a lot of fantasy scenes that are in Luke's imagination, that play with the coloring as well. 

This movie isn’t my favorite of all time, but it definitely was entertaining and different then anything I’ve seen. I recommend this movie to any old school hip hop lovers and Josh peck fans! 

We can't stop here, this is bat country!

It's so strange to miss class so early on in the year; in fact, it's really messing up my mindset for the semester already.  I definitely need to catch up, and fast.  It's amazing how losing out on just two hours in a lab, spending them instead revisiting lunch on the ceramic throne in my Emerson dorm, can feel like such a casualty to my learning already.  Sure, I did the usual talking to friends in the class to see what I missed, emailing professors that needed a reason for my absence, but I can't help feeling a little lost anyhow.  Have you ever noticed how anxious you get when you know that you've probably missed something important (in my case, creating a group and working on a scene), but the only thing you can really do to get back with the program is to barrel forward blindly and hope for the best?  It's definitely an awkward position, especially since we're only in our second week (I think...?).

So, instead of feeling like I'd totally lost my ground, I opted to watch a movie in between trips to the bathroom.  My first thought was to pick something off of Arturo's extra credit links, just to see what kind of hidden gems are out there, only to realize that I should probably watch something I know a bit better if I was going to be frequently running away and missing large chunks of time.  Thus, I put in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Don't know the movie?  Check out the trailer:

It's absolutely fascinating to me, as far as storylines go; who would ever dare to push human limits in such an insane way?  I've always been curious about what Thompson was thinking when he wrote this book (though I believe he wrote it based on personal experience, which then leads to even more questions).  Then, I look at the intriguing ways that they manipulated the cameras and shots in Gilliam's film, and am both amused and intrigued by it.  Certainly the effects aren't anywhere near up to par (I mean, the movie's over a decade old), but it's curious to see how such psychedelic effects could be portrayed to the audience without entirely confusing them.  Going back and forth between seeing the "trip" and reality was a good choice, in my opinion; it brings out the chaos in both characters' minds for viewers to better understand while also showing them how strangely the two men are truly acting in the world.  It's comical, yet it poses a somewhat alarming question: how far will people go just to have a little fun?