DOLLHOUSE

I liked Joss Whedon’s Firefly, and to a much lesser extent his Buffy and Angel series. He seems to have a knack for creating interesting characters that interact in a kind of extended dysfunctional family. Well now he is starting up a whole new series called Dollhouse; check it out:



My Own Worst Enemy is a show that has a (completely contrived) identity crisis built into it; it is also horribly disappointing and convoluted. Identity is one of the most interesting things about us; what makes me, me? How much can you change a person before they become someone else? Where does responsibility (and free-will) lie in this scenario?

There is some great ground Whedon can cover. I hope he is able to bring it all together in an entertaining and thought-provoking way (unlike My Own Worst Enemy.)

Go Jon Stossel!

This is a scathing review of politicians and their promises:



Also be sure to watch the rest. Here is part two, part three, part four, part five, and part six.

Burn Notice: Review

The show is about Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan), an American spy who doesn’t work for any one agency. At the beginning of the first episode, in the middle of an under-the-table payoff to a local Nigerian terrorist group, Michael learns that he has been “Burned”; which is the spy equivalent of being fired. Unfortunately, this comes up in the middle of a deal, and trouble ensues. To make a long story short, Michael ends up passed out in his hometown of Miami. [Previews Here and Here and Here]

To be “Burned” means that a spy is completely cut off from everything and everybody; no agency will talk to him, his financial resources are nonexistent, and his name is red-flagged (which prevents him from traveling.)

Naturally, the first thing Michael wants to do is to figure out why he was ‘burned’ in the first place. This is hard to do, since Michael has next to no resources at his disposal. Also, he quickly learns that he is under surveillance.

What he does have is a bitter gun-nut ex-girlfriend Fiona (whose accent disappears after episode 1, which was explained away with a single line); a retired spy buddy named Sam (played by the always entertaining Bruce Campbell); a small group of illicit contacts; and a nagging, chain-smoking, hypochondriac mother. It is through his mother that he gets his first ‘job.’

To support himself, Michael becomes an unofficial private-investigator and problem solver. What’s fun abut this show is how Michael solves these problems (with the help of his two sidekicks, Sam and Fiona.) As Michael says (who also does the voice-over), “Guns make you stupid. Better to fight your wars with duct tape. Duck tape makes you smart", not that he doesn’t use guns when appropriate, he just prefers more creative solutions (think MacGyver.)

Weather its running out a local drug lord, saving a kidnapped family, uncovering a minor conspiracy, helping a kid deal with bullies, or making a bomb; Michael has a clever solution to everything (get a small taste of that here.) Michael employs psychological manipulation (“People are more likely to believe a piece of information if they have to work a little bit for it”), technical skills, fast-thinking, and good-old-fashion combat.

So, each episode there are two or more stories going on, Michael trying to find out why he was ‘burned’ (each episode the mystery deepens, he soon discovers it is about much more then just him), and a new ‘case’ for Michael to solve.

But I am not even mentioning the relationship between the characters; Fiona and Michael have a tense romance brewing, which works quite well, Sam is always enjoyable (as well as his relationship with Fiona), and the relationship between Michael and his mother is hilarious (a spy who can deal with third-world dictators, but has a hard time dealing with his own mother.) The chemistry in this show is great.

Michael’s narrative of the show also works well; he doesn’t explain the story as much as fills in some “spy-factoids”; such as “in the field, communicating silently is a must”, or "A good trap doesn't scare people, it makes them curious.” More then anything, Michael’s narrative helps pull the various elements of the show together.

There are some annoying aspects of this show; sometimes clunky dialogue, stylistic choices that felt thrown in (rap-music to shots of Miami), and I didn’t think the relationship between Michael and his loser brother worked very well.

Still, what makes this show fun is the sexy and lovable characters, the mystery, the action, and the comedy, and how the show pulls all of this together for a very enjoyable experience. But especially, it’s fun to see highly competent, and mostly moral characters fight a variety of bad guys.

While I don’t think ‘burn notice’ will win any Emmy’s, it’s a great summer show; which I am glad was picked up for a second season, if only to figure out what happens after the cliffhanger at the end of the first.

Man vs. Wild: Review

Bear Grylls served in the British Special Forces; at the time he climbed Everest, he broke the world record as the youngest ever to do so; he parasailed the same mountain (really, he had an oxygen tank and a special parasail); he is an avid rockclimber, mountaineer, and adventurer; needless to say, Bear Grylls is a pretty cool guy.

That’s why Man vs. Wild, a show dedicated to survival, tends to fixate on him; but this isn’t a bad thing. The show is only partly instructional; if person wants some real lessons in survival, they need more then just Man vs. Wild.

A review of the show is not complete without mentioning its scenery. Filmed in HD, this show has some great shots of the world’s most foreboding wildernesses; wide angle shots are fantastically directed (even if it takes always from the sincerity of the “survival” situation.) and Bear always needs to get into a place in an interesting way; weather it’s hangliding, parachuting, jumping out of a helicopter, or some other stunt; these scenes, while a bit contrived, are incredibly fun to watch.

There is a gross-out factor to this show, and the editors know it. Bear often has to find food, lacking options, like a fire, he must sometimes eat some disgusting things raw, which is shown in a little too much detail. But even this has a point; it does show what a person must go through in order to survive. Despair, I have heard, is the number one killer; keeping a positive, survivalist attitude is the most important factor.

It’s also worth noting that the show doesn’t shy away form some of the crueler aspects of life; Bear must sometimes hunt, and kill medium sized animals (sometimes cute ones); it shows the complete process, from capture to preparation to eating. For this the show has taken some heat from environmentalists (I believe there is a petition to get it off the air.) Bear Grylls clearly has a reverence for the beauty of nature, but he is not deluded as to what nature is; he’s no environmentalist (at least not by their standards.)

Bear Grylls also took some heat awhile ago for supposedly not being authentic; that he was actually much safer then he said he was. I tend to put such accusations under the same category as the people who where shocked to learn that Ashley Simpson was lip-synching. Of course it’s not completely real, the fact that he has a camera crew with him tells you something; the wide angle shots have to be planned, and I’m sure the crew is not scrounging for food like Bear. Still, Bear really jumps into crocodile and leech infested swamps, really boulders that steep rock-face, and really does all the things impossible to fake. There are also times when Bear is clearly nervous, like when a good sized shark was circling his small raft in the pacific.

This might sound cruel of me; but I enjoy watching this show from the safety of my own home; watching Bear Grylls have to ring water out of his own socks; or walk through is water; or futilely try to start a fire in the rainforest; makes me feel cozy.

People don’t seem to realize how big this world is, this is only occasionally demonstrated in the media; when a rich adventure’s plane went down, the largest single man-hunt in history couldn’t find him; and that was in America! This show gives a clear sense of the scale of our planet, and how little of it we actually occupy.

I like this show because it’s only star – Bear Grylls- is a clearly confident, competent, and strong individual. It also perfectly demonstrates, implicitly, the importance of technology in our lives, by showing what life is when a person is (mostly) detached from it.

Thank you Daily Show

reason.tv

I just learned that comedian and actor Drew Carry is a libertarian. I like it that there are more and more celebrities coming to the cause of liberty and reason (Penn and Teller are another great example of this.) I don’t agree with some things that libertarians say; but a pro-liberty, pro-free market, pro-reason movement is certainly a good thing.

Click here, to see some short video editorials hosted by Drew Carry on a variety of subjects; including eminent domain, property rights, the status of the middle class, and traffic.

Conformity at Its Funniest

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