A Serious Man Is For A Serious Audience

The Coen Brother’s latest film, A Serious Man, doesn’t pull any punches with their interpretation of the ordinary man. With their usual flare of visual metaphors and overweight supporting characters, they continue to prove that they are Hollywood’s elite.

They don’t even need to rely on well-known actors to get moviegoers filling in the seats. Here, they have Michael Stuhlbarg carrying the movie as Larry Gopnick. He’s a family man, he’s working man, but he’s also a serious man. What could go wrong in Gopnick’s life, does. Throughout the film, he has to deal with a whirlwind of problems, people, and situations that makes his life unpredictable. Once anyone believes they’ve figured out life — even with a mathematical formula — they’ll be in for a life-altering surprise.

Defying Gravity Reaches Its End

Ron Livingstone is Maddux Donner

This Friday on SPACE, we Canadians will see the season finale of Defying Gravity. We should feel lucky. Below the border, ABC is trying to find where and when to air the last five episodes of the first season.

In the overall scheme of things, this doesn’t bode well for the series. With poor ratings and no set timeslot, it equals up to not having a home or an audience. Can we expect a cancellation of James D. Parriott’s show? Most likely.

It’s really too bad. The pilot was incredible — it’s up there with Glee and FlashForward. The premise was fun; a space mission which stops at seven planets in our solar system — including landing on the rings of Saturn. Now that’s something I want to see.

So, where did this go wrong?

After The Riots: Why I Was Seduced By Many Women In One Sitting

Once a man comes to the realization that he’s been seduced by a beautiful women, it feels like a painless kick to the head.  But when it’s around a dozen stunning ladies… it’s freakin’ exhausting.

Cut to the auditions for After The Riots, a short film I wrote for Jacob Postmus. He was down a few crew members for the last day of casting, and I offered to lend a hand. I never foresaw how hard it would actually be.

The job Postmus gave me — reader. For anyone who doesn’t know what that entails, I’d have to read to the all the actresses who auditioned for the two parts. Unbeknownst to me, the majority wanted to try out for the role of “Ally.” With her sides, she plays a cat and mouse game while seducing the protagonist, me.

Priscilla Faia going for the kiss with Samuel B. Barnes in After The Riots.

Halloween 2009

Hey folks,

I’m in need of some suggestions for Halloween this year. Here are my two questions for you.

Question #1:

I have purchased a pumpkin in the hopes of carving a crazy and unique jack-o-lantern. But at this point in time, I have no clue what to put on it. Thoughts?

Question #2:

The 31st is quickly approaching and I have a few ideas in my head for this year’s costume. They are:

Joaquin Phoenix

Is Twitter Good or Bad for Public Figures?

Just in the last week alone, we’ve seen the impact Twitter has had on our culture. With Miley Cyrus closing her twitter account, and Shawn Ryan, the Executive Producer of Lie To Me, tweeting the cancellation of NBC’s Southland before anyone else knew, the site has been the number one topic of conversation.

What makes this micro-blogging, social media site better than any other is that it keeps you in the loop with your favourite celebrities, people of interest, and role models. But apparently, it’s more than the celebrities can take.

The latest who has shown interest in deleting their account is Meghan McCain. Just tonight, she tweeted:

“my ‘spontaneous’ night in is my Andy Warhol biography and takeout….I’m getting old”

She then followed it up with this twitpic:

I can't make out the name of the book... but I can make out something else.

What followed were some harsh comments by a few of McCain’s followers. Within minutes, she lashed back:

“so I took a fun picture not thinking anything about what I was wearing but apparently anything other than a pantsuit I am a slut, this is

“why I have been considering deleting my twitter account, what once was fun now just seems like a vessel for harassment

Should Zambrano Retire?

Lately, I have been hearing rumours and reading blurbs that Carlos Zambrano from the Chicago Cubs is considering retirement. He feels like he’s not delivering like he used to.

If you’re unfamiliar with Zambrano, here’s a clip.

He obviously didn’t agree with that call, but seeing his frustrations on the field is quite common. It’s because he’s a very passionate person. If he’s irked, you’re going to tell.

However, if there is one man he’s hard on, it’s himself.

Zambrano didn’t put up the numbers that everyone was expecting. With a win/loss record of 9-7 and spending some time on the DL, it wasn’t what he wanted. So, are those numbers enough to justify retiring or is he just overreating?

Well, if you were paid over 18 million dollars in 2009, and you didn’t deliver, would you consider quitting? I would. There is a lot of pressure on his shoulders and his thoughts are justified.

But Zambrano, you’re only 28. You could have ten more years of quality pitching. You’re the best hitting pitcher in the NL, and you’re adored by your fans. If you don’t post the numbers you feel you should, then take a salary decrease when contract time comes around – but don’t quit. You’re one hell of an athlete and any team is willing to put up the cash to have you. Period.

Battle of the Blades

If you missed the first episode of CBC’s Battle of the Blades, you missed 90 minutes of rugged, old hockey players clunk around the ice all in the name of charity. If you’re not familiar with Canada’s newest form of brainless entertainment, professional female figure skaters grab well-known players and choreograph a little ditty.

So who is this show aimed for? Not younger people. I don’t know anyone who wants to see their father’s hockey idol prance around. Most of the men partaking are obviously not comfortable “figure skating” since they all danced to macho country and rock ‘n roll tunes that are now available on 8-tracks boxed up in your attic.

Yet, surprisingly, by week two the men were getting better… but it’s still embarrassing to watch.

They try and spice it up with judges — whose scores mean absolutely nothing. Special guest judges Don Cherry and Kelly Hrudey also show the country that they know diddly about a triple twist.

So what’s the point? Charity.

Make-A-Wish, Diabetes Hope Foundation and others do prosper from this. It makes me feel terrible bashing the show, but the fact is, the show isn’t up to par.

Please CBC, finish this up ASAP and move on. This show has a great timeslot: 8pm on Sundays. It premiered the same night Heartland did. The horse whispering, family drama brought in one million viewers in its first episode of the latest season. That’s a huge achievement. When more fans jump on the Heartland express throughout the year, do you think they’ll stay on the channel to see old men figure skate? I doubt it. Build on this crowd. You need to get this country watching more original Canadian television series.

And to do that, you can’t have Battle of the Blades.

A Must Watch: Party Down

As workplace comedies like The Office start to run their course, it’s series like Party Down that bring a freshness to the screen.

Half-hour comedies are based on one thing – character. With that trailer you can see this has plenty. Be warned, the comedy is little over the top. It also has many scenarios that we’ve seen before, but it works brilliantly because it’s based around these people who are at the bottom and craving to be at the top.

Each episode follows a L.A. catering company as they work events from a college conservative union caucus to an after party for the adult film awards. Working for the company are different actors, has-beens and wannabes, who are waiting for their big break. Until then, they’re stuck with each other.

Haven’t heard of this one? Well, that’s because it’s a Starz original series (the same guys who make Crash). But even though the season’s over, it’s easy to catch up on all ten episodes. The second season doesn’t start until April 2010, so you have lots of time to check it out.

And you’ll probably recognize some of the names involved with Party Down. The series was created by John Enborn, Dan Etheridge, Rob Thomas, and Paul Rudd – yes, that Paul Rudd. Out of the ten episodes, the directing job is shared between two men: Bryan Gordon and Fred Savage – yes, that Fred Savage.

Dick vs Idiot aka Schwab vs Stow

Anyone who knows me knows that I loathe the police. In 2005 I lost my driver’s license for failing to stop at a big red octagon around 2am on a Thursday morning.

I’ll say that again. I lost my license for doing a California rolling stop.

After four months and $500 in fines (the initial $180 fine, paying off the points that this fine put on my license, and renewing it), I managed to get it back. I have so much contempt for these human beings that I respectfully refused a friend, who was applying to become a RCMP officer, to be his reference.

So, when I found this video online, I was ready to bring up that rage that still lies deep inside of me to smear this cop as much as possible.

There’s a few things here that bother me and it’s for all the wrong reasons. People are calling this cop, Officer Shwab a “fucking dick” all over the place. But somehow, I feel differently.

I sat down with a friend Tim Ady, a licensed Security Officer and Site Supervisor, to get some answers. Now, he’s not a cop, but he’s trained in subduing troublemakers and hooligans with the same techniques that Schwab used on Zach Stow.

After the initial arrest, the first thing that threw me off was when Stow said, “You don’t have to fucking put me in pain, dude.”

Brian Turner: When put into the arm bar, will it initially hurt?

Tim Ady: No. They’ll feel discomfort but not pain. When people resist, that’s when the arm bar will hurt more.

So he’s not in pain, he’s feeling discomfort.

I threw down an unltimatum and The Vampire Diaries pulls through.

Kevin Williamson, Executive Producer.

Last week, I was a rather harsh when it came to The Vampire Diaries. I had watched the first three episodes and thrashed the whole concept of the series. But I also said this:

“(Kevin) Williamson is also hitting all the right story beats. If he wants to stay on the right track, he needs to create a mob to go after the vampires. After three episodes, and a handful of dead, bloodless corpses, people in this small city need to find out why these malicious attacks are happening. If they don’t go on this search than this show is a bust. I’m gone. I’m out.”

So, I decided to give the series one last shot. It took them till the very end, but they definitely followed through with my request:

http://watch.ctv.ca/the-vampire-diaries/season-1/the-vampire-diaries-104-family-ties/#clip219442

In this clip, the hook starts at 4:31. It appears that the mayor, the wife, the sheriff, and a TV reporter are a part of a secret society that are familiar with the vampires in this small town, including their history. So, will it be easy for them to find out Stefan and Damon’s identity? Only time will tell.

So, to Mr. Williamson and his team of writers, you have me for a few more episodes. But be warned, you’ve exhausted all the conflict between the two brothers and it’s only been four episodes. Yikes. Time to bring it up a notch so you can keep me entertained and my blood pumpin’.