The Spy Who Came from FX

A Spy with Issues - Pic courtesy of FX

by blogSpotter

PERSONAL UPDATE

My blog has recently turned into more of a personal journal -- today I’ll just continue along that line. We’ve had a beautiful weekend and I had to work in a lot of errands around my play time. My yard was impacted by our record cold, dry winter.. I had to replace several bushes and some ground cover. I’m not a big enthusiast of yard work, so it’s best if my yard survives a dry season. I may actually spring for a sprinkler system this year.

Indoors, I’ve turned into a “televidiot”. There are so many good shows on so many channels that it’s hard to keep up. Netflix has given us both the blessing and the curse of “binge watching”. If I discover a show that ropes me in, I’ll be tethered to the TV for hours on end. I have two recent discoveries and I’m amazed that they escaped my detection for so long.

ARCHER

Archer is an animated FX series loosely (very loosely) based on James Bond. Sterling Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) is a handsome, athletic spy who works for the private agency ISIS. ISIS is headed up by Sterling’s cold, steely, iron-fisted mother Mallory (voiced by Jessica Walter). If you were wanting a serious spy series keep looking -- Archer is more like an over-sexed, incredibly silly Get Smart. The employees of ISIS are variously alcoholic, sex-addicted, bipolar or dealing with character issues that defy easy description. The animation is excellent -- it resembles some of the 60’s op art depicting comic book super heroes. The backgrounds are nearly photorealistic. I wondered how they captured movements so well -- they have the voice actors physically stage some of the scenes for artists to render. Adam Reed, the lead writer and show’s creator, says he isn’t even a big fan of animation. That’s ironic because he has some of the best animation on TV now. This gem has been on since 2009 -- I have 5 seasons to catch up with. We’re looking at a lot of binge hours here.

CALIFORNICATION

I was vaguely aware of this SHOWTIME series, if only because the series title is so provocative. I’m not particularly shocked by the title or the content but some people may be reaching for smelling salts. I’m only on season one of this excellent series. I’m having to pay big money for a season pass on iTunes since it’s unavailable on Netflix. Californication depicts the foibles of the well-meaning if alcoholic novelist Hank Moody who is dealing with a failed relationship and a stagnant writing career. The show lives up to its name with frequent depictions of sex. It would almost qualify as “softcore” porn. Nonetheless, the human relationships are deftly, deeply drawn. Between lurid encounters and hilarious repartee, you might have your heart broken a time or two by a character like Becca, the 12 year old who is collateral damage in her parents’ separation. Much like real life, there is a serious dramatic undertow in all the laughter and levity.

STARBUCKS AND WHATNOT

I have to fess up -- I didn’t have a lot to cover today. It’s 5PM and the Starbucks on Knox Street has a line out the door. In Boston, Dunkin Doughnuts is the great purveyor of coffee. In Washington D.C., Caribou Coffee gives Starbucks some competition. But in Dallas, pricey brew only comes from one place -- Starbucks. I may have landed on a blog topic, but one that must wait for another day.

If you haven’t already, invest in Netflix’ streaming service. $9/month is practically free when you consider the endless hours of good movies and TV shows they offer. There may soon need to be a 12-step program for us binge-watching “televidiots”. For now, I’ll enjoy my own addiction -- think I’ll settle in for an hour of Archer now..

© 2014 blogSpotter

2013 at the Arcadia

Chicago-bound Llewyn - Pic courtesy of CBS Films

by blogSpotter

2013 was a banner year for good movies.. I was motivated to watch all these excellent films:

12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Blue Jasmine
Dallas Buyers Club
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Saving Mr. Banks

All of these were exceptional; I plunked down the big dollars to see four of these in the theater. Such a bumper crop of excellence is a rare thing to see. My personal favorite of these is probably Nebraska – a black-and-white homage to middle America and the positive family dynamics that happen in a time of true need. But for today I watched Inside Llewyn Davis on Apple TV – it gives us the story of an aspiring folk singer in 1961.

The Coen brothers who created Llewyn are primarily known for chaotic comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona. This movie is far from that – in fact it’s more a character study than a comedy. The laughs that come from this movie will be dry chuckles, not knee-slapping guffaws.

Llewyn Davis is a young, 20ish New Yorker from a lower middle class family. His father is in a nursing home and his sister is a working mother with little patience for a cast-about brother who sleeps on other peoples’ couches. Llewyn seems to also raise the hackles on a married female friend, Jean, who is a fellow folk singer. Jean is livid that Llewyn has impregnated her in an extramarital one-night stand. (Her character seems incapable of conceding that she had a part in it.)

Llewyn was part of a duo (a la Simon and Garfunkel) but as the movie begins his partner has just committed suicide, jumping off the George Washington Bridge. Llewyn is left alone in multiple ways, trying to restart his career as a soloist and reconcile what happened. Through the entire movie, Llewyn comes across as brooding, pensive and angry. You might even conclude that he has a chip on his shoulder and a bit of a self-destructive streak. Caution – some spoilers might follow..

A college professor acquaintance and his wife invite Llewyn to wine and dinner at their beautiful home. He flies off the handle when asked to entertain them with a folk song. “I’m a dinner guest, not the hired entertainment!” A later scene shows a prominent Chicago music producer actually giving Llewyn an audition. He offers Llewyn a job as part of a trio and recommends that he trim his beard – Llewyn huffs away from the offer, aghast that anyone has questioned his own artistic vision.

Throughout the movie Llewyn frowns or looks sad. I keep waiting for him to smile. I want him to play something jaunty on his guitar (how about “Puff the Magic Dragon”?) Instead he plays sad death dirges like “The Death of Queen Anne”. He drowns in a self-centered, self-pity that limits his possibilities. Toward the end of the movie I almost don’t care what happens to such a wounded, broken bird. The movie does end on a slightly positive note suggesting that he’s repairing his burned bridges and giving the solo career a real chance.

An orange house cat serves as a metaphor throughout this film. Without retracing the whole cat sub-plot, the cat (named Ulysses) finds his way home to the college professor’s house from across town. Llewyn’s great epiphany comes about from seeing a mere animal find his bearings against such immense odds. (That’s this viewer’s take on it anyway)..

Inside Llewyn Davis is an excellent character study but it might frustrate you if you’re looking to laugh out loud or brighten your day. I’d still recommend it for a rainy Sunday on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

© 2014 blogSpotter

Stale Apples

The Thrill is Gone - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

Let me preface today’s blog by saying that I’m an Apple fan – I’m offering some constructive criticism as a person who many would describe as a rabid Mac Head. You might ask what problem I have; there are a couple of areas of concern..

STALENESS

If you walk through the Apple Store today, you’ll be impressed by the clean, modern, minimalist store. You’ll like the birch wood display tables tempting you with all the newest offerings. If you haven’t hovered for too long around Planet Apple you might be downright excited by what you see. All the retina displays, the bright visuals and smooth lines will be mesmerizing to a newcomer. As a veteran Apple follower for decades, the spell is lost on me. I have to say that I find myself …rather bored. Yes, I think it’s a yawn-fest.

Let’s take a stroll down Apple Lane and maybe you’ll see what I mean ..

Mac OS X – This UNIX-based operating system was revolutionary when it came out in Spring 2001. It was remarkable at the time and highly imitated. There have been several iterations to improve on it, but the basic experience is the same as 2001. New and improved are not synonyms so I’m not suggesting meaningless changes. But the excitement wanes, as competitors offer things like a highly configurable Windows 8.1 display or a highly extendable Chrome/Android interface.

MacBook – Esthetically speaking, the 2006 MacBook was really an extension of the 2001 PowerBook G4. The metallic square offering of 2014 is virtually the same look as the 2001 PowerBook. If we came back in 10 years, I’m thinking we’d be greeted with another square, aluminum box. Of course, the insides are different across 13 years. But the look stays the same.

iMac -- This device has gone through several nice iterations but reached its current clean “all-in-one” style in 2007. In 7 years since, it’s barely changed at all – you’d be challenged to say what year model you were looking at. The insides have been modernized, the outside is 2007. Computers don’t have to visually fly like a car, and yet the thrill is gone if the same outside greets you all the time.

Is MacBook a 1963 Porsche 911?

The Porsche 911 has barely changed its look since 1963 – the car’s maker considers it perfection reached 50 years ago. Is MacBook a Porsche 911? To some enthusiasts the answer would be an emphatic yes. Why tamper with perfection? Porsche is a small, luxury niche in the car market – Ford, GM and Toyota would probably not want to swap places with the tiny footprint of Porsche. I think Apple may start to get the snobby crowd and little else. It’ll be the Porsche of computers. If you dare go downscale and venture to Best Buy, you’ll see the enticements of a $199 Chromebook or a Windows convertible tablet. Surprise! The computer isn’t finished either on the inside or the outside… Apple’s competitors have not (and never will) just twiddle their thumbs in boredom or acquiescence. There are new things to see.

RECENT MISSTEPS

iOS7 - As a middle aged man with poor eyesight, iOS7 is a challenge. It has a faint, small font and even the desktop icons are drawn with faint lines. There are some (inadequate) accessibility options that might mitigate some of this but – iOS7 is best used by a young person with 20/20 eyesight. Why would a whole OS be designed around such an exclusionary esthetic? I don’t know, but it was.

2013 Mac Pro – This newest device is purely bizarre. It looks like a bedroom humidifier and nothing at all like a computer. If you were going to make it look like an appliance, wouldn’t you choose something more attractive? Maybe a Michael Graves vacuum cleaner? I realize my earlier comment is that they haven’t changed enough and here I complain because they stuck their necks out and did something new. New and improved are not synonyms but they can (and should) be simultaneously in effect.

CONCLUSION

In a recent press announcement, Tim Cook announced some “amazing new products” coming down the Apple pike. I’m looking forward to whatever they have to offer. Let me visit the Apple Store and not feel like I’m in an Ambien-induced technology haze. Let’s be invigorating and shake things up a little bit.

© 2014 blogSpotter