Last week I downloaded Joss Whedon's, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" and this weekend I had the opportunity to watch it a couple of times. You can guess from the fact that I watched it twice, I enjoyed it very much. I've always had a penchant for musical's, but they have to be clever in some way. I have sat through a number of those old Rodgers and Hammerstein classical musicals from the '40s, maybe they were something innovative way back then, but man are they boring today.
Moose asked me today if I was jaded coming out of the womb. We were discussing movies made in the '60s because there is a character in "Dr. Strangelove" he wants me to incorporate into the book. That movie is 45 years old. EGADS! I have never seen it and told him I really didn't like the old '40s, '50s, and '60s movies because of the lame theatrical acting. Films became ten times better once the method actors took over and kicked out that old crappy style of overacting. There's only two actors I like from those years and they were Vincent Price and Danny Kaye. Sadly, I haven't watched enough of their work because I really don't the actors supporting them.
(That's not the full context of Moose's comment. We were also talking about the cold war fear of the Russians from back in the '50s and '60s, a la Dr. Stranglove. He said as a child that grew up in the '80s I should have an inkling of understanding, and I simply do not. Back then I never understood the old or new shows that portrayed this irrational fear of the Russians and no one ever sufficiently explained to me why I should have been afraid or why the average american was so afraid of that propaganda in the '80s or earlier. I guess I really was jaded as a kid. Either that, or just too smart to buy into the bullshit even at that age.)
Anyway, back to Dr. Horrible. The musical was created specifically for free distribution over the internet. Whedon financed it himself and expects sales on iTunes and DVD sales to pay for it in the end. Basically, he is being a pioneer in the new media system of getting people to pay for something after they've gotten to see it and enjoy it, rather than trying to sucker people into paying to watch something metiocre before watching. If reasonably priced, and I am sure it will be, I will probably buy the DVD to support the new model. Hopefully, it will encourage other people to be pioneers and offer up some quality entertainment rather than the boiled down to the lowest common denominator crap that we currently see on TV and coming out of Hollywood.
People can still see it for free on the official Dr. Horrible website http://www.drhorrible.com/ as well as on Hulu.com.
I am sure there are people out there saying, "If it's available for free, why pay for it?" Again, it is for the purpose of paying for good quality entertainment. If you don't feel it's worth paying for, then don't. You can stick to the metiocre stuff you're already paying for. Me personally, I don't watch much of that stuff anymore. Over the last ten years, the supposedly best and most intellectual shows on TV (e.g. CSI, Law and Order) have slowly jaded me to the point where I can only nitpick the ridiculous parts. These shows, CSI in particular, have noticeably dropped in quality since their beginnings. Their efforts to wow the average audience, have put me in a stupor because they botch the science in the process. To me, these shows are not worth paying for anymore.
Actually, as long as I am recommending stuff. I really recommend Showtime's original TV series, Dexter. A quick synopsis of the show would be that Dexter Morgan is a serial killer who only kills other people who are sufficiently bad. He is a truly frightening sample of vigilante justice. The first two seasons of that show were nothing short of stunning! For the record, I believe that USA is running edited repeats of the show with all the "graphic" stuff cut out. I have not seen an edited episode, but even without seeing them, I can assure you, don't waste your time on them. (Also, each season is a twelve episode story arc so you can't come in during the middle.) Taking out the intensity of the show is akin to cutting your own achilles tendons and trying to run a marathon. Don't do it! Buy the DVDs you won't be disappointed.
And finally, for a quick writing update. I have plotted out the next book, so I should be in good shape to start writing again tomorrow. For the record I think I am going to start calling them "volumes" instead of "books". I think this will help in some of the people's confusion on the matter. Plus it'll sound better once I start releasing it as a serial.
After a long weekend of three days off (that is, if you don't count prep work as work) I guess I'd better be ready to get back into the grind.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
"just too smart to buy into the bullshit even at that age"; I think this expression is more correct. Being closer to the USSR geographically (neighbours), and close to the USA strategically, I can even claim the the USA was more scared of the so called power of communism, and they would have a right had it really been somewhat close to communism. Yet, unfortunately, it was merely fascism.
Post a Comment