What I've Been Watching And Blowing My Mind - justin_guber

What I've Been Watching And Blowing My Mind

So there've been a couple of things that have seriously caught my attention and stirred up my brain a bit, and I LOVE IT. In case you didn't know, I always, always need some kind of inspiration, some new found form of entertainment for me to learn from and, more importantly, be amazed by.
In short, when there's nothing new to read, watch or listen, I get very, very bored and blur indeed. Sometimes I feel like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit on a constant quest for 'input'.
So here's the 'input' that I've been devouring over the past week or so, brought to you for no other reason than to tell you how kick ass it is and hopefully nudge you into checking it out yourself.
Enjoys.
1. Prince's Superbowl Half-Time Show

It's a fact that a lot of people often forget, probably because over the years he's been overshadowed, unjustly, by lesser acts, but it's a fact that musicians, at the very least, should remember and keep remembering: Prince can fuckin' wail. I mean, seriously, this guy isn't in guitar mags enough. He fuckin' rips on the guitar!
And, seriously, what a showman. This is what a show is all about, lead with full confidence by the Artist-Formerly-Known-As-'The-Artist-Formerly-Known-As-Prince'-But-Now-Known-As-'Prince' (or 'Prince', for short). He struts, croons and plays the guitar with more emotion than a hundred other poorly-constructed pop-rock acts out there. It's a shame he's hardly on MTV, hardly on the radio (here in Malaysia) and yet, time and again, he pops up on some form of media, just briefly, and stuns everyone. The 'Musicology' video, his performance at the Grammy's with Beyonce, now this. Godammit, I wanna play like Prince.
And whoever's still questioning the whole 'phallic imagery' of his silhoutte with his symbol guitar should be smacked for not having a good time watching the damn show.
2. Doctor Who - Season One
Ok. I know. I'm late. Christopher Eccleston is no longer the Doctor. But for some reason I was really... I dunno... afraid of picking this up. I had this fear that it just wouldn't stand up to all the shows I've been watching recently. Yes, the high budget American ones.
And it's because of this fear of production values that I also still haven't seen 'The Office' (a sin that I will soon atone with my next paycheck, believe me).
But I'm so glad I picked it up. So incredibly glad. Because after so much flash, bang and pizazz of the big budget TV show extravaganzas of the States such as 24 and Heroes (which I will also soon write about in this article) it's nice to watch something like Doctor Who. And after only the first two episodes I was instantly hooked.
See, the main reason I picked it up was because I'm currently trying to get a TV series off the ground here in Malaysia, and it occured to me that the BBC never have incredibly huge budgets and yet from my childhood till my young adult years I ate up British television morning, noon and night and never complained.
And watching Doctor Who had me in such a giddy state of nostalgia that I remembered why I would remain glued to the BBC. It's not like I was a huge Doctor Who fan, but growing up in England, even if you'd never seen a single episode of Doctor Who (in its many incarnations) you couldn't get away from it. It's part of British common knowledge, it's part of the vocabulary - the Doctor, the Tardis, the Daleks and Cybermen, all of it. And watching Doctor Who was like being 13 years old in front of the TV with my Ed the Duck puppet.
Like I said, it made me remember why I would watch the British shows with so much gusto in the first place - the writing. Be it comedy or drama, the writing on British shows has always been nothing but incredible. My favourite so far? The 'Daleks' episode. Probably the most intelligent writing for a 7pm saturday show. And the humor... Oh! The humor! There are some great lines in the show, very dry, very British and oh, so delicious.
"You're an alien?"
"Yes."
"Why do you sound like you're from up North?"
"Lots of planets have a North."
Only thing I'm worried about now is whether or not the new Doctor in season two is any good. I really like Christopher Eccleston. I wish he'd do more movies. More anything. At least he's on Heroes...
3. Heroes

It's no secret, to those that know me, that my favourite TV show of all time is 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. And the only reason 'Heroes' hasn't bumped it off the number one slot is because Buffy has more seven seasons and Heroes is still on it's first. But, as much as Buffy was every comic geeks dream of a TV show, this is even more so. It's like watching X-Men on TV without the bright day-glo costumes, it's the type of TV show anyone who's ever immersed him-(or her-)self into a comic book has always dreamed of and never got a chance to see - until now.
See, even though a lot of the big-budget, high-concept Americna TV shows have been gaining a lot of exposure and buzz, I never really got into them. I couldn't immerse myself into 24 or Prison Break or The Sopranos. They just didn't hit me.
Heroes does. Heroes hits me hard. Heroes thwacks me on the head and smacks me silly and I beg for more. Hiro Nakamura, Peter Petrelli, Silar, Claire, all of them. I love 'em and can't wait to see how the whole show ends.
Plus, any show with Ali Larter's gotta be worth watching.

12.2.07 09:05

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Helen / Website (13.2.07 00:32)
So true, Heroes rocks...and damn theres a spoof episode of the Daleks, done by Monty Python I think...I will try and dig it up for you, but I warn you, its terribly unpolitically correct....