Consider It Curbed.
The What I'm Whatevering List
because I know you care...
Last Movie I've Seen: King Kong (the old, 1933 one). Heh. King Kong really hates dinosaurs. Almost as much as he hates flash-photography. So it’s always weird watching old movies, and not just because all the girls have giant eyes and sound like Minnie Mouse while all the guys look the same and sound like the Radio in The Brave Little Toaster. No, the real reason it’s weird watching them is because, when a movie is carrying over 50 years’ worth of word-of-mouth, it’s hard not to let that affect your judgment of it, one way or the other. But, while I’m sure this was really impressive back in 1933, and was actually sort-of impressive, in parts, for 1933, that doesn’t change the fact that, when you put history aside (which you kind of should, if you’re talking about whether you liked it or not), effects-driven movies don’t age too well. Especially when we’re talking decades. And while this was surprisingly not-hilariously-bad when King Kong was fighting T-Rexes and things, as in a lot of old movies, this one had lots of “Are We There Yet?” before that. Which is either the result of our already knowing certain parts of these movies so well, beforehand, or because people just weren’t much for cutting at least 10 minutes closer to the chase, back then. Anyway, I couldn’t not watch it, and I’m glad I did, but once was enough.
What I'm Watching- TV on TV Edition: Supernatural. Yeah, it's not exactly scary, it’s always annoying when it wants to be funny, and at least 60% of any given episode is mostly just dull, all of which makes it very difficult to explain why I'd voluntarily watch a show that co-stars Dean from Gilmore Girls. And still, I do. It’s kind of like The X-Files (in spirit, but in no way quality), except that it focuses almost exclusively on urban and local legends, and pretty much disregards any expectations that it should ever make any sense at all. Mostly, I just needed a show that I only have to think about for the hour that it’s on (and even then, not so much). And if it didn’t have the urban legend angle, I probably wouldn’t even bother. Though, all that said, it occasionally comes together better than I expected it to, but that’s mostly because I expected it to be unwatchable, when it mostly just hovers somewhere in the middle. And if “better than you’re expecting, as long as you’re expecting it to suck” doesn’t sound like much of an endorsement, that’s because it’s not supposed to. Still, I kinda liked that last episode with the abandoned mental institution, but then, it’s impossible to create something about an abandoned mental institution that I don’t kinda like, especially if you call it an “asylum.” Which they did.
What I'm Watching- TV on DVD Edition: Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 4. Eh. Still overrated. I always want to enjoy it more than I do, in the end. I mean, it's good enough for me to keep renting the seasons as they come out, but...it's just never as funny as it thinks it is. For those who don't know, it's about Larry David (who co-created Seinfeld, back in the day), and it’s more-or-less an HBO version of Seinfeld, in that it involves a character whose tragic flaw is that he can never just deal, which leads to all sorts of unfortunate and clever coincidences. Thing is, while there are funny scenes, the situations mostly come off as either predictable, contrived, avoidable or any combination of the three. Like, I have no problem with a main character who's kind of jerk, but if Larry could've avoided everything by just shutting up when any normal person would, or maybe by explaining himself some, or by not confronting people and going off on them like real humans just don’t, it kind of kills both the “clever” and the “coincidence” part of the episode, which is more-or-less the whole thing. And people will probably say, "That's the point," then…okay, I don't think it's the best point. Or at least the best execution of it. Still, while the show may not be, Larry David is very funny, and if he just walked around and talked for a half-hour, plot-free, that would probably be my favorite episode. And also be called “stand up.”
What I'm Playing: Project Gotham Racing 3 (360). While I’m a big fan of the racing game, I didn’t expect the 360 launch-title I spent the most time with to be this one. But here I am, trying to cut seconds off my Las Vegas Blvd. Run time and earn enough credits to unlock the concept cars. There’s not that much to say, except that the ability to hook my iPod up to the Xbox so I could drive to my own playlist is awesome (while also helping me realize just how easy it is to make a car commercial), that inside-the-car view is even awesomer (and, after years of “yeah, it looks cool, but I could never actually play this way,” it actually, like, works, in this game) and, oh yeah, that PGR3 is really, really hard when you start out, to the point where I had to put it on easy mode (which I hate) just to figure out how to make a turn without crashing headfirst into a wall, first. But, in the end, that just means it’s more satisfying when you actually learn how to win, so…yeah, good times.
Last Book I Read: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. So Dave Eggers’s mom died and then his dad died (or maybe it happened the other way around, I forget), and he was left to take care of his little brother and they moved to California and then he wrote a book about it. And, if you can make it past the first chapter or two, which are really sad and sometimes gross – not in a way that’s poorly written but just in a way that doesn’t make it a fun, easy read – you won’t want the book to end for a while. Like most memoirs, it has “episodes” more than it does a clear plotline, and, like most memoirs, you have to assume that most of the dialogue is fictionalized, because real people just don’t talk like that, and, like most memoirs, certain parts suffer from ew-that’s-way-too-much-information syndrome, but...that first comment isn’t a complaint, and he actually admits to my second one, and that third one…well, just skim through those paragraphs. And, for a book that’s about what this is about, it’s actually really funny a lot of the time, what with the dry, ironic tone (see: the title, for one), the pop-culture references and the applying for The Real World.
What I'm Hoping: That my confession to watching Supernatural doesn’t somehow discount my unconventional opinion in regards to allegedly “ingenious” Curb Your Enthusiasm. And that you’ll go watch the Arrested Development DVDs. Because any line that George-Michael (no, not that one) has ever had has probably made me laugh louder than anything on Curb.
Hate my opinion? Comment away!
because I know you care...
Last Movie I've Seen: King Kong (the old, 1933 one). Heh. King Kong really hates dinosaurs. Almost as much as he hates flash-photography. So it’s always weird watching old movies, and not just because all the girls have giant eyes and sound like Minnie Mouse while all the guys look the same and sound like the Radio in The Brave Little Toaster. No, the real reason it’s weird watching them is because, when a movie is carrying over 50 years’ worth of word-of-mouth, it’s hard not to let that affect your judgment of it, one way or the other. But, while I’m sure this was really impressive back in 1933, and was actually sort-of impressive, in parts, for 1933, that doesn’t change the fact that, when you put history aside (which you kind of should, if you’re talking about whether you liked it or not), effects-driven movies don’t age too well. Especially when we’re talking decades. And while this was surprisingly not-hilariously-bad when King Kong was fighting T-Rexes and things, as in a lot of old movies, this one had lots of “Are We There Yet?” before that. Which is either the result of our already knowing certain parts of these movies so well, beforehand, or because people just weren’t much for cutting at least 10 minutes closer to the chase, back then. Anyway, I couldn’t not watch it, and I’m glad I did, but once was enough.
What I'm Watching- TV on TV Edition: Supernatural. Yeah, it's not exactly scary, it’s always annoying when it wants to be funny, and at least 60% of any given episode is mostly just dull, all of which makes it very difficult to explain why I'd voluntarily watch a show that co-stars Dean from Gilmore Girls. And still, I do. It’s kind of like The X-Files (in spirit, but in no way quality), except that it focuses almost exclusively on urban and local legends, and pretty much disregards any expectations that it should ever make any sense at all. Mostly, I just needed a show that I only have to think about for the hour that it’s on (and even then, not so much). And if it didn’t have the urban legend angle, I probably wouldn’t even bother. Though, all that said, it occasionally comes together better than I expected it to, but that’s mostly because I expected it to be unwatchable, when it mostly just hovers somewhere in the middle. And if “better than you’re expecting, as long as you’re expecting it to suck” doesn’t sound like much of an endorsement, that’s because it’s not supposed to. Still, I kinda liked that last episode with the abandoned mental institution, but then, it’s impossible to create something about an abandoned mental institution that I don’t kinda like, especially if you call it an “asylum.” Which they did.
What I'm Watching- TV on DVD Edition: Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 4. Eh. Still overrated. I always want to enjoy it more than I do, in the end. I mean, it's good enough for me to keep renting the seasons as they come out, but...it's just never as funny as it thinks it is. For those who don't know, it's about Larry David (who co-created Seinfeld, back in the day), and it’s more-or-less an HBO version of Seinfeld, in that it involves a character whose tragic flaw is that he can never just deal, which leads to all sorts of unfortunate and clever coincidences. Thing is, while there are funny scenes, the situations mostly come off as either predictable, contrived, avoidable or any combination of the three. Like, I have no problem with a main character who's kind of jerk, but if Larry could've avoided everything by just shutting up when any normal person would, or maybe by explaining himself some, or by not confronting people and going off on them like real humans just don’t, it kind of kills both the “clever” and the “coincidence” part of the episode, which is more-or-less the whole thing. And people will probably say, "That's the point," then…okay, I don't think it's the best point. Or at least the best execution of it. Still, while the show may not be, Larry David is very funny, and if he just walked around and talked for a half-hour, plot-free, that would probably be my favorite episode. And also be called “stand up.”
What I'm Playing: Project Gotham Racing 3 (360). While I’m a big fan of the racing game, I didn’t expect the 360 launch-title I spent the most time with to be this one. But here I am, trying to cut seconds off my Las Vegas Blvd. Run time and earn enough credits to unlock the concept cars. There’s not that much to say, except that the ability to hook my iPod up to the Xbox so I could drive to my own playlist is awesome (while also helping me realize just how easy it is to make a car commercial), that inside-the-car view is even awesomer (and, after years of “yeah, it looks cool, but I could never actually play this way,” it actually, like, works, in this game) and, oh yeah, that PGR3 is really, really hard when you start out, to the point where I had to put it on easy mode (which I hate) just to figure out how to make a turn without crashing headfirst into a wall, first. But, in the end, that just means it’s more satisfying when you actually learn how to win, so…yeah, good times.
Last Book I Read: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. So Dave Eggers’s mom died and then his dad died (or maybe it happened the other way around, I forget), and he was left to take care of his little brother and they moved to California and then he wrote a book about it. And, if you can make it past the first chapter or two, which are really sad and sometimes gross – not in a way that’s poorly written but just in a way that doesn’t make it a fun, easy read – you won’t want the book to end for a while. Like most memoirs, it has “episodes” more than it does a clear plotline, and, like most memoirs, you have to assume that most of the dialogue is fictionalized, because real people just don’t talk like that, and, like most memoirs, certain parts suffer from ew-that’s-way-too-much-information syndrome, but...that first comment isn’t a complaint, and he actually admits to my second one, and that third one…well, just skim through those paragraphs. And, for a book that’s about what this is about, it’s actually really funny a lot of the time, what with the dry, ironic tone (see: the title, for one), the pop-culture references and the applying for The Real World.
What I'm Hoping: That my confession to watching Supernatural doesn’t somehow discount my unconventional opinion in regards to allegedly “ingenious” Curb Your Enthusiasm. And that you’ll go watch the Arrested Development DVDs. Because any line that George-Michael (no, not that one) has ever had has probably made me laugh louder than anything on Curb.
Hate my opinion? Comment away!
posted by Matt at 2:19 PM
2 Comments:
Did you say that you watch a show filled with all things Dean? ... and here I thought I knew you so well!!
I KNOW! I didn't even mean to, I just sort of...fell into it, and...oh, it's an awful habit, I feel like going to confession every time it's over, I...should've started smoking instead, or something.
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