The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
My favorite movie and my favorite TV show -- together in one!
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: x-man on September 25, 2013, 05:34:15 pm ---My copy of Breaking Bad finally arrived today, and I have watched the first 3 episodes. I will not have to be sending them to you! It is fantastic! I was not prepared for the dark, actually macabre humour. Geez, I howled with laughter through the whole thing.
QAF will always be my favourite TV series, for obvious reasons, but Breaking Bad will run a close second. Thank you for recommending it.
--- End quote ---
So glad you're enjoying it, x-man! That humor continues throughout (increases, actually, in Season 2 when the lawyer Saul Goodman joins the cast). Plus, the series is consistently thrilling, surprising, intelligent and beautifully written, acted, directed and filmed. I will warn you, though, toward the end it gets very dark indeed.
After last week's episode, I joked on Twitter that I had to cheer myself up by watching something lighter: Cormac McCarthy, "Leaving Las Vegas" or "Requiem for a Dream."
A friend once told me a story about watching "Carrie" on TV with her mother, who had some sort of mental/emotional illness. They got to the scene near the end where Carrie is at prom with her dreamboat boyfriend, and he appears to really like her, and she looks beautiful, and they're named prom king and queen, and they're standing up on stage, and everyone is cheering, and Carrie is finally happy for the first time in her life. My friend's mother watched, thrilled.
My friend jumped across the room and snapped off the TV. Her mother went away happy.
x-man:
javascript:void(0); At last I am in a position to appreciate your "BreakingBad Mountain" BBM parody. Very cleverly done indeed.
Even the very premise of the show (straight-arrow, terminally ill, chem teacher teams up with crystal meth crazy) is a great beginning to the humour--and those over-the-top Latino drug lords! Also, kudos to the show's producers for the handicapped son character. The handicapped are another minority not well represented in movies and on TV. It is clear to me, at least so far, that the young actor portraying the son is not faking it.
I laughed rather guiltily at your story of the friend and mentally troubled mother watching Carrie. I think your humour is being influenced by Breaking Bad.javascript:void(0);
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: x-man on September 27, 2013, 03:27:05 pm --- It is clear to me, at least so far, that the young actor portraying the son is not faking it.
--- End quote ---
No, he's not.
--- Quote ---I laughed rather guiltily at your story of the friend and mentally troubled mother watching Carrie. I think your humour is being influenced by Breaking Bad.
--- End quote ---
Probably, but not in this case. I thought that story was amazing when I first heard it 20 years ago.
x-man:
Hello, serious crayons. Long time no see. :)
Guys, have you checked out the new gay TV series "Looking" on HBO? At least it is new in Canada. It is set in San Francisco, and traces the lives of a group of gay men--the usual TV series format. It is interesting to compare the way gay life was treated on cable in QAF in 2000-2005, and now in 2014 in Looking. I have seen only 2 episodes so far, but have noticed a few things. Marriage, boyfriends, relationship problems, etc., are now treated more like the straight equivalent, that is, are taken for granted. The sex is remarkably restrained. QAF was wall-to-wall sex exquisitely filmed, the really well done scenes quite complete from beginning play through climax to cuddling after, were usually love scenes, and the actual sex was the appropriate conclusion of love-making. In Looking we see far less sex, and so far, not much distinction between casual sex and love sex. One thing there IS in Looking is fur. Practically everyone has a beard, and most guys have chest and body hair--the show is filled with otters and bears. That's fine with me. There was little fur on QAF; in fact the sex-god character Brian frequently commented disparagingly about men shaving their chests.
Irritatingly the episodes are only 1/2 hour long. It is hard to generate much plot complexity in so short a time Still, maybe complexity is not what you're after. The acting is good. You may recognize Murray Bartlett, the reappearing ex-boyfriend in "August." The situations are believable, and it is funny. Some of the in-jokes and bits of business may go passed straight people, but not to where they would not understand what is going on.
Gay-theme programs on general release television seem to me to buy into very inaccurate sexual stereotyping of gay men which drives me beserk. Looking does not do this at all. Neither did QAF, but it was glossier, and the world was not then nor now so filled with drop-dead gorgeous men. Looking is more realistic, but it's men are nice to look at too. Check it out. Your half hour will not be wasted.
I addressed this posting to "Guys" because I suspect women will not be too interested; it is really all-male oriented. I know QAF's audience was half women, but I doubt that will happen with Looking. If women disagree, please say so.
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: x-man on January 28, 2014, 02:16:17 pm ---
I addressed this posting to "Guys" because I suspect women will not be too interested; it is really all-male oriented. I know QAF's audience was half women, but I doubt that will happen with Looking. If women disagree, please say so.
--- End quote ---
Hey, we've been following male-themed stories ever since Beowolf and before, so I'm sure at least some of us would be interested.
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