Theremin: Coolest Instrument Ever!

This instrument is amazing.  You play it, without touching it!  I'm giving it you straight from Wikipedia:

"The instrument's controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which sense the relative position of the thereminist's hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (volume) with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker."

Basically, you move your hands up and down above it to control the sound.  One hand for volume, one for pitch.  Just look at the videos:

Invented by a Russian physicist, Leon Theremin, it was patented in the U.S. in 1928.  It sounds so creepy and awesome.  I learned about it because it is used to play the very unsettling and unique theme song for the long-running BBC show Midsomer Murders.  You can watch the thereminist from that show play below.

Mad Men Returns!

The opener for Season 4 of Mad Men aired last weekend and it promises to be yet another summer of sinfully superb entertainment.  Beautifully lit and shot as always, Mad Men appears ready to reclaim the mantle of best show on television.  As an added bonus, Time-Warner Cable finally carries AMC HD, so I get to watch it in all it’s glory now.  Since the show began in 2007, Mad Men has influenced the direction of fashion and decor, helping sell products from Zippo lighters to precisely cut Banana Republic suits and dresses.  Interesting, if not morally inspiring, the characters feel real and three-dimensional.   The carefully selected dialogue and the well-constructed scenes, like a Don Draper advertisement, lead you to an inevitable conclusion: this is what I should be doing right now... sitting here, watching this.  I can’t wait for Episode 2.

For a dose of reality, check out this NY Times Blog with Q & A from a “real mad man.”

"Treme" : The First Season

After digesting the first season of David Simon and Eric Overmyer’s new show "Treme," I am not 100% satisfied.   I feel like the show still exists as a possibility, it has promise.  I am hoping that plots begin to thicken and gain more substance and immediacy in the second season.  Right now, I don’t feel invested in many of the characters, though they are interesting and varied.

I can’t help but compare it to “The Wire,” as I’m sure many can’t,  and feel that it has fallen short.  It is a completely different show, I understand that.  It doesn’t really delve into the institutional corruption involved in the rebuilding of New Orleans, as it could, as the “The Wire” would.  It gives us a teaser of what’s there, but instead of following the thread, it, like Steve Zahn’s character Davis, is sidetracked by prospect of enjoyment and indulgence.  While it does have powerful moments, it wastes time with narratives that feel trivial or poorly developed, like that of Sonny, the unsympathetic and irritating street musician.  Food, parties, and above all, music, dominate much of the run time.  Don’t get me wrong, the music is amazing.  I’m ready to play the "Treme" soundtrack all day, as soon as it comes out.  However, it can’t carry the whole of the show.  The acting too, I have no complaints about, so really I have hope that the writer’s will hit their stride during the second season, which HBO mostly likely bestowed because of the success of “The Wire” rather than the performance thus far of “Treme.”

HBO's Site has links to buy some of the music: http://www.hbo.com/treme/index.html#/treme/episodes/1/10-ep-10-ill-fly-away/music

Confessions of a cop show junkie: the future of "Southland" in jeopardy

I have been at a loss to describe my impressions of "Southland" for some time. I tracked it's progress from network misfit to it's new home on TNT and I'm still not sure whether it is good or just toying with excellence only to fall flat. It's the latest creation of John Wells and Christopher Chulack, producers of ER (not a particularly enticing piece of information to me).  TNT isn't sure  about it either and its future is once again in jeopardy after ratings were even lower for the second season than the first.  However, as a self-proclaimed cop show junkie it is the best cop show on tv at the moment and it would be a shame to lose it before it's really had a chance to hit it's stride.

I don't know what attracted me to it first, but I actually tuned in to the series premiere last year. I think more than anything it was the title graphic, southLAnd over a map grid. I think I was just beginning to be fascinated by this concept of the sprawling metropolis that somehow makes up this disjointed and isolating city. Though I have been in the "LA area" since 2004, it's only after having graduated and leaving my suburban college town bubble that I have begin to get a sense of the "real LA." I don't even think I'd ever even heard the word "Southland" until my senior year of college when I began a bi-weekly trek from Claremont to Silverlake (a commute of approx 1.5 hours each way) for an internship. I remember hearing it used: "all over the Southland" on KPCC and thought how aptly that described this tangled mass of concrete. They were talking about the day's traffic.

One of the things I like most about "Southland" is this attempt to portray this isolation and the blinding brightness which seems to intensify this feeling by adding a surreal quality to life. Gritty and intense, "Southland" is no "CSI" or "NCIS" (and believe me I know my cop shows). There is no polish or glamour to the lives of these police officers. There is, however, a lot of drama. Here is where I began to have issues. When I try to describe the series to anyone it sounds like a soap opera... The serious and experienced cop, who is, by the way, addicted to pain killers and in the closet, puts the rookie, rich boy with issues through the paces. The alcoholic cop goes ballistic and crashes his police car in the LA river and it ends up all over YouTube. The young detective with a new baby girl admits to the young woman his parents raised as his sister that he is really her father. These stories sound ridiculous but I don't quite know how to explain why it doesn't seem that way when you are watching. The characters feel real, despite all the drama, not the typical cardboard cutout cops that we know so well.  They just don't make that big of deal about things and they don't do lots of cheesy emotional wrap up montages featuring a currently popular song.  Most of all, they don't spend time trying to make LA seem like this glamorous place where everyone and everything is beautiful.  I hope TNT gives "Southland" another shot and let's the producers follow their impulses.  With time and if it's allowed to continue in its initial direction it could mature into a critically acclaimed piece of television, but right now it's teetering on the edge of becoming just another sensationalistic cop show.

'The Wire' and 'Treme'

I know a lot has already been written about how amazing the ‘The Wire’ is, but I feel like I have to add my voice to the chorus, because it is so profoundly wonderful.  ‘The Wire’ is the best television show I have ever seen.  I can’t imagine anything better.  The characters are real human beings, the dialogue is natural, the acting is phenomenal, the plots are well crafted.  Other shows may have accomplished this, perhaps not all at once, but this show is so honest and unflinching in its portrayal of the city of Baltimore, the fact that the creators have been able to shine a light on so much bullshit is perhaps a testament to HBO more than anything else.  Where else could you find a combination of excellent writing and story craftsmanship, powerful characters and the energizing freedom to speak the truth?  Network TV would have self-destructed before anything like that could have existed there, which is sad, because it puts the show in a category that is somewhat inaccessible to much of America-- and America needs to see this show.

‘The Wire’ is the end to platitudes.  After completing the 5th Season, I was somewhat depressed, not because it was over (I knew I could re-watch any of the episodes at any time and thoroughly enjoy myself and I HATE re-watching stuff), but because I felt hopeless about our ability to advance ourselves as human beings.  Every avenue of possible improvement-- the police department, the government, and the media-- seemed a corrupt and bureaucratic mess, mostly due to one reason: human beings are weak and selfish.  This weight, however, has been lifted upon further contemplation.  In the final season, we see play out several narratives that end in success.  It is these few humans, that manage to pull their lives together, despite all that goes on around them, that should leave an impression.  The violence and misery is the status quo for many.  Ignorance, selfishness, and total unawareness of our impact on the lives of others is the status quo for most of us.  On occasion, there is transcendence.  The rest of us, must just keep plugging on.

I do not have HBO, so I have been trying to figure out the best way to get my hands the first few episodes of ‘Treme,’ the latest from the creators of ‘The Wire.’  A show about New Orleans residents who attempt to rebuild their lives, homes and businesses after Katrina, ‘Treme’ also features some of my favorite actors from ‘The Wire’ including Wendell Pierce (Det. Bunk Moreland) and Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon).  I am naturally very suspicious and I am worried that ‘Treme’ will not live up to the hype and won’t be as good as ‘The Wire,’ etc, etc.  I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I can’t help it.  I really am itching for something that can take the place of ‘The Wire.’  Here’s hoping that ‘Treme’ is habit forming.

Info about ‘The Wire’

Here are some links to Fresh Air interviews with various ‘Wire’ collaborators:

2006 Fresh Air Interview with Ed Burns, Baltimore Policeman and teacher
Terry and Ed talk about his work as a police and school teacher in Baltimore as an inspiration for the show.

2008 Fresh Air Interview with David Simon, Baltimore Sun Reporter
Terry interviews David Simon who talks about the year he and Ed spent hanging out with Gary McCullough.  Gary was the model for the character of Bubbles in the show.  David and Ed followed him for a year, while writing their book “The Corner,” which became an HBO miniseries.

2010 Treme Article with David Simon and Eric Overmeyer
David and Eric talk about the new show ‘Treme.’

Sing Off Links

YouTube Links to the best performances of the finalists.
Nota’s performance of “Down,” probably their best performance in the show, but it is debatable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG0PiVtqLxM
Beelzebub’s knocked their judge’s pick “Sweet Caroline” out of the park.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gewU78c5jo
Voices of Lee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dXObqGELbg

"The Sing-Off" and the future of media

For the most part, NBC produced a piece of schmaltzy nonsense, but the highlight of this mini-series was the number of extremely talented young (and older) people that were thrust upon the national consciousness.  A cleverly laid out mini-series, “The Sing-Off” chose a shorter format that would minimize DVR usage, thus maximizing eyeballs on ads, while maintaining the public interest in A capella music throughout the duration of the series.  With one hour shows on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday during the third week of December, followed by a live two-hour finale the following Monday, it was just enough exposure to whip up interest in the Idol-style competition show, without losing people over a long season, which an A capella only competition show probably could not support.  With anticipation running high about the live finale, fewer people would pre-record it, because the whole point was to find out who would win the $100,000 grand prize and Sony recording contract.  Would it be Voices of Lee, the Christian college co-eds, led by future R&B star Candace?  Or the Beelzebubs, the wildly entertaining and charismatic group of jokers from Tufts University?  Or would it be Nota, the soulful group with Peurto Rican flair?

In the end Nota prevails and probably rightfully so, considering the ultimate prize was a recording contract, not a tour.  While the Beezelbubs were entertaining, Nota was the only group that could possible get me to buy a cd.

NBC, for some reason, which doesn’t really make sense to me, decided to pull down its Sing-Off Channel from YouTube today, leaving fans completely dependent on other YouTube channels for the songs.  I guess they want to redirect traffic back to their site to watch their pieces of shows with all the commercials.  Very clever, but really irritating because when the judges talk, you mostly want to shoot yourself in the head.  The only interesting part is the singing.  They should pretty much just cut out the other stuff and keep the songs, bookended with commercials if that’s how it needs to be.

This brings back the question that is constantly on my mind, as someone who hopes to create media content one day: what is the format of the future and who is going to pay for it?  Typically it’s been advertisers who pay for most content.  They consumer pays for some things: theatrical movies, dvds, cds, and some for cable, but most of this is all underwritten by advertisers.  This is basically the case for most of the media we consume, even though we pay a nominal fee for it, we rarely really pay for the whole cost of its production, be it newspapers, magazines, or televisions shows.  The consumer has become used to voraciously consuming media often without paying a dime.  Particularly my generation, weened on Napster and graduating to Limewire and BitTorrent, we thought nothing of downloading any song, television, or movie on a whim.  Our motto was search and ye shall find.  Inconvenient PR laws slowed us down, but we are creatures of innovation and most young computer savvy people can still find most mainstream media if they look hard enough.  Besides that, there is now a wealth of legally free entertainment to be had on the web, much of it hosted on sites that are now also using an advertising based model to turn a profit (i.e. YouTube).  If the true cost of producing media were passed on to the consumer, in many cases they would rebel. 

That said, certain formats do make a lot of money, particularly films, merely from selling to consumers.  Let’s take “Avatar” for instance.  While IMDB claims they had a budget of $230 million, it’s widely rumored to have cost over $300 million to produce.  After one weekend, it has already grossed $238.5 million worldwide, well on track to turn a huge profit for Twentieth Century-Fox and James Cameron, king of the box-office mega movie.  Besides the massive amount of money they will make in ticket and dvd sales, Avatar will capitalize on toy sales, video games, and various other types of merchandise.  To maximize marketing dollars they have even teamed up with McDonalds to advertise the Big Mac and the movie at the same time.

While that’s all well and good for films like “Avatar” the rest of us are typically scrambling for funding and most likely not making even close to a profit in the end with just consumer contributions.  Most films lose money...  With a society obsessed with consumption, advertising underwrites everything from sports teams to charity events to media production.  But at what cost?  The biggest concern for me with media underwriting is in the category of news.  This is the area that one feels should be free of outside influence and possible sources of inappropriate restraint, but how can that truly be possible?  It’s difficult enough for news sources today to be unbiased when there are so many choices the consumer can chose whatever newspaper or network or blog that echoes their own opinion.  The temptation to fall into a political niche and preserve a core audience is strong, but that’s another can of worms entirely.  No logic in the world can convince me that news sources underwritten by sponsors can ever truly be objective.