zondag 12 april 2015

Today's News: we interrupt this program to bring you something far more interesting



I've been real busy this past week, so posting news took a bit of a hit. There was plenty going round, but all I got was this:

Teaser True Detective Seizoen 2 online

Thankfully HBO provided a plot synopsis, since there isn't much of a story to discern in this teaser. It's basically a rapid succession of shots of faces. But some very intriguing faces, I'll admit. Colin Farrell certainly looks every bit as corrupt a cop as you can imagine, though that may be saying more about the sterotypical look of corrupt law enforcers in television. Can Vince Vaughn finally rid himself of the B-comedy stigma he has gained over the last decades? Taylor Kitsch still needs to make most audiences forget about his flop John Carter, which I personally liked a lot, but in that regard I place myself into a distinct minority. This cast is less of a safe bet than the likes of Season 1's ensemble, which proved spot on in every regard. But then, this show isn't playing it safe on most other levels. A totally different story line each year, with a whole new cast and new directors? That's not the usual way television gets produced, nor how audience loyalty is instilled. It worked well enough on the acclaimed first season, but making viewers wait twice as long for the second season and hope they'll accept the sweeping changes is quite a risk. In most regards, this isn't one show at all, it's a steady collection of mini-series in the same narrative style and genre under the same titular umbrella. For as the released synopsis makes all too clear, the more things change, the more they stay the same. A fixed number of protagonists stars in a story about the wheelings and dealings in the ever ongoing conflict between the underworld and the justice department, where the latter isn't portrayed in too flattering a light. No serial killers this time, but mobster battles instead. Other than that, the formula persists. And hopefully so will the quality, since the first season left some pretty big boots to fill.


Damon en Affleck produceren Incorporated

A movie about the ever more deeply embedded evils of multinational corporations, produced by two acting big shots in the giant corporate Hollywood machine? That's ironic to say the least. But then, there's a lot of messages depicted in the movies that from any executive's viewpoint are only relayed with the goal of making money. Just look at Avatar and its promotion of environmental awareness and techno-skepticism, made with the very latest technology available. This is commonplace in Hollywood. Left and liberal on the outside, the executives running Hollywood are nothing like the words their factory of dreams opts to spread. But if you want your message to reach a global audience, you have to sell some pieces of your soul to the devil. And so the story about a world run by corporations and the struggle of the individual to free himself of their grasp is presented by an industry of Big Money. Will that affect the message hitting the right chords? Not neccessarily. Stronger j'accuses than this have come out of Hollywood over the years. Will it affect the quality? It's Hollywood, when is the last time you saw a decent movie with an urgent message on the disturbing state of the world and the ever increasing loss of self? It's opium for the masses, it is! It's keeping us dumb and contented and without the desire of expression by delivering mindnumbing dreck that suggests an intelligent message but designed to keep us from rising up against the system, and...

...the first four episodes Game of Thrones Season 5 have leaked...

Excuse me for a few hours. Hold that thought, I'll post the rest of last week's news when I've had my fix of Thrones. I need my fix, I can't live without it. And now my watch begins...

At least television keeps hoi polloi from rebellion by delivering quality goods. Dragons and titties and incest and such, you know. The fun bits of life.


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