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Jan232006

Favorite TV Theme Songs

According to TV comedy writer Ken Levine, there is a meme going around that asks folks to name their ten favorite TV theme songs. Like Levine, who spins this meme into a fairly long rant about the demise of theme songs, I also miss the days when your favorite series was preceded by a memorable tune to help set the mood for whatever was to follow. The best theme songs always captured the tone of the show they represented and helped to hype you up and get you ready for your night’s viewing, whether it was a comedy, a cop show, or a family drama. When a good theme song was combined with a well-designed visual sequence, they could be as entertaining as the show itself. I can think of a number of theme songs that are so inextricably linked in my mind with their accompanying visual images that I can’t hear the music without imagining the picture, too — for instance, the staccato opening of Miami Vice immediately conjures flamingoes and rushing water, and the bombastic first notes of Magnum‘s theme is always accompanied in my head by TC’s little chopper dropping toward the surf in a vertiginous dive. And, as those two examples indicate, a good TV theme often turned up on the radio, too.

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Jan202006

Friday Linkage

Don’t mind me, kids — I’m just clearing out a folder marked “Weird/Amusing/Interesting Stuff I’d Like to Blog About But Probably Won’t Get Around To.” Perhaps you’ll find something here that will strike enough of your fancy to warrant a click-through:

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Jan192006

Gerrold on Takei, and Other Related Matters

I’ve run across something that I think makes for an interesting addendum to the Brokeback Mountain controversy, namely some comments from the author David Gerrold about last fall’s revelation that Star Trek‘s George Takei is gay.
Gerrold, in case the name doesn’t ring a bell, is an accomplished science-fiction author and television screenwriter with a number of novels to his name. Despite his lengthy career, however, he’s most likely always going to be known as the man who wrote “The Trouble with Tribbles,” the one episode of the original Star Trek series that non-Trekkies most frequently seem to be familiar with. Given the “Tribbles” connection, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that he’s been friends with Mr. Takei — and fully aware of George’s sexuality — for years. He also has strong feelings on the question of how visible homosexuals ought to be in our society (which is really what Larry Miller’s decision on Brokeback — as well as a certain political fight heating up in Utah’s legislature — is all about, the visibility of gay people and their relationships). Here’s Gerrold:

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Jan192006

I Need Crampons!

It snowed several inches last night and, as of commute time this morning, there was still a lot of slush on the roads and sidewalks. This, in turn, helped me to learn a Valuable Lesson: Doc Marten boots suck on slushy surfaces. At least my own personal pair does. Seriously, I don’t think I could’ve had any less traction if I’d been wearing glass slippers that had been slathered in bacon grease. (Don’t think too hard about that image; you might strain something. God knows I did while walking from my car to the train station.)

Anyone know where I can get some of those cleat-thingies the ice-climbers use?

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Jan182006

A Little Hollywood Rambling

So, I’ve just discovered that Leonard Maltin has a Web site. (Of course he does, everyone has a Web site these days. Andy Warhol was wrong about the fifteen-minutes-of-fame thing; he should’ve said,”in the future, everyone will have a Web site.”) I’m not terribly confident in Maltin’s powers as a film critic — he strikes me as a bit too much of an enthusiast to be really objective, and a bit too nice a guy to be really harsh in his judgments when necessary — but he definitely knows his stuff when it comes to film history and the workings of the business, and I enjoy his frequent contributions to DVDs of classic movies and animation. I haven’t had the time to really explore his site yet, but I did spot an interesting comment right on the front page, which I’d like to share:

[2005 has] been an eventful year for Hollywood, to put it mildly. Audiences stayed away from some of the most vaunted would-be summer blockbusters, then seemed to get into the habit of staying away even when better movies came along this fall. Top studio executives have admitted that there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

 

How do you get people back into the habit of moviegoing when you’ve let them down again and again… when you charge an exorbitant ticket price in spite of the fact that people can see the same movie three or four months later for a fraction of that fee for a DVD rental or a video-on-demand download?

 

More importantly, how do you convince a younger generation that movies aren’t always about escape from reality… that you can have a memorable, meaningful experience watching a film that’s challenging or provocative?

 

I don’t pretend to have foolproof answers to these rhetorical questions. All I know is this: until Hollywood learns to respect its audience instead of insulting or pandering to it, the situation isn’t likely to change.

 

I know this, too: there’s an old saying, “There’s nothing wrong with the business that good movies can’t cure.” Technology and cultural shifts may have eroded some of the certainty in that maxim, but it’s still a good place to start.

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Jan172006

The Girlfriend’s First Art

Jennifer Broschinsky, who occasionally comments in these parts, is a friend of mine and Anne’s. She’s also a painter of considerable talent who somehow manages to find time to create in between the demands of raising both a son and a comic-book-loving husband, as well as working a full-time job. A while back, Anne saw one of Jen’s works on her LiveJournal and fell head-over-heels in love with it. One quick ‘n’ easy financial transaction later, and my lovely girlfriend became the proud owner of her very first piece of genuine art. Here it is, just back from the frame-shop and ready for hanging:

One of Jennifer Broschinsky's children.

Now, I must admit that what I know about art would maybe fill a metaphorical shot glass, but I think this is a very impressive piece. Anne is greatly pleased with how the frame turned out, and Jen, if you’re looking at this, we both hope you are as well. On behalf of The Girlfriend, thanks again for being willing to part with one of your children…

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Jan172006

Larry Miller: The People’s Censor?

A couple of things came up in the comment-area discussion on my previous entry that inspired me to go back and re-read the Tribune‘s coverage of this whole Brokeback Mountain mess. For the record, let’s take note of something from the Trib‘s very first article about the cancellation:

In an interview with KCPW-FM reporter Jonathan Brown, which was taped Thursday afternoon and aired Friday, Miller said booking a movie like “Brokeback Mountain” was a business decision.
“It’s something that I have to let the market speak to some degree,” Miller told Brown. “I don’t think I’m qualified to be the community censor.”

 

However, Brown said Friday that Miller was unaware of the storyline of “Brokeback Mountain” – about two Wyoming cowboys who maintain a hidden romance for two decades – until Brown described it to him Thursday, less than two hours before the schedule change was announced.

So Larry doesn’t think he’s qualified to be the community censor… until he hears that the movie is about fags. Then suddenly, for reasons that still remain unexplained, he acquires whatever qualification one needs to assume the role he just said he wouldn’t take. Interesting. I think we can all safely guess at what that qualification happens to be; it begins with an “h” and ends with “phobia.”

I think Bugs Bunny said it best: what a maroon.

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Jan172006

Miller’s Folly

Sometimes it’s not easy, living in Utah.

My home state is scenically beautiful, it has an interesting history and a pleasantly varied climate, and for a relatively small city, Salt Lake actually boasts a disproportionately (and surprisingly) large number of cultural amenities. But the rest of the world never seems to talk about these things. No, when you hear about Utah in the national press or popular culture, it’s always something to do with polygamy or green Jello or the eccentricities of the predominant local faith. Or it’s something ugly and embarassing like the current flap over Larry H. Miller yanking the acclaimed film Brokeback Mountain from the schedule of his Megaplex theaters because it was too gay for his tastes.

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Jan162006

The Die Hard 2 Effect Hits 24

When the series 24 first premiered a few seasons back, I thought it was the most brilliant thing that’d been on television in a long, long time — the conceit that each hour-long episode represented an hour of “real time” was clever and fresh, the suspenseful tone was pretty consistent, and even the plot of that first season was relatively realistic (if somewhat burdened with the “one damn thing after another” flavor of old cliffhanger serials, which, in a sense, is exactly what 24 is). It was also great to see Kiefer Sutherland, an actor I’ve enjoyed since his early roles in the 1980s, land a steady job and some critical respect.

However, I decided early on that show was something of a one-trick pony; after all, how many incredibly intense 24-hour crises in which the fate of the nation hangs in the balance could a single counter-terrorism agent realistically find himself in? One, maybe two in a single lifetime, but after that it would start getting harder and harder to accept that what we’re watching is “real.” Disbelief will only allow itself to be suspended so far. Call it the Die Hard 2 effect.

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