Posted by: popculturedrandoms on: March 2, 2012
This comes about almost two weeks after watching This Means War (and also after Entertainment Weekly posted something similar in its PopWatch blog, but I swear I totally meant to blog this anyways!)
This Means War, a romantic-action-comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy, was released on February 17th (with previews on Valentine’s Day). The movie was in development for quite some time, and the earliest I remember hearing about this movie was when Bradley Cooper was attached to it. But apparently it was in development way before that. Now, with Reese Witherspoon going back to doing what she does best, which are romantic comedies, I was already sold. I wanted to watch it as it was, and then they cast Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, which to me became a bonus. Then as the movie got closer to being released and critics started giving us their two cents about it (which was essentially that it wasn’t good), I was still determined to go see it opening weekend. And so it opened in movie theaters everywhere and I went to go see it. 1 hour and 40 minutes later, I walked out of the movie theater saying “I liked it!”
Now despite being quite predictable and filled with a lot of cliches, I found myself thoroughly entertained by This Means War. None of it can be helped. By that I mean, it’s a romantic comedy, it’s hard not to make it predictable and full of cliches. But the cast try their damned hardest to give you something fun to watch despite it all, and doesn’t take itself too seriously that you just can’t help but be entertained by it. I mean you’ve seen other rom-coms where they try and pretend that their movie is so different from anything else in the genre, but really you end up sitting there and saying “No, you just accept the fact that you’re like everybody else. Different set up, same ending.”
What This Means War has going for it is that it’s got an action element to it, which ever so slightly gives it something different than other rom-coms. Not to mention there’s an awesome bromance going on, on top of the romance. It’s like Chuck but without all the nerdy stuff (makes sense seeing as how McG, a producer on Chuck, directed TMW). The movie’s got it flaws certainly, but again, by not taking itself too seriously, it makes for a perfectly enjoyable movie watching experience.
Which brings me to my random thought for the week: at what point did we become SO critical about watching movies? Sure, everybody’s got an opinion about movies they see. Lately however, it seems as though every little thing about a movie is dissected, from the general plot and casting to trailers and promotional pictures. And when certain movies don’t meet the high expectations set by others, they’re considered failures. Not every movie can be Oscar worthy and those movies which are smart and do bring something different to their genre should be applauded. However, what happened to just taking a movie for what it is and enjoy it, allow yourself to be entertained by it?
Prior to seeing Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol over the Christmas holidays, I will admit that I had my reservations about the latest installment of the series. After watching the movie, all I can say is that I was entertained by it. Do I remember much about the plot? Not really. Did I still have a good time watching the movie? Absolutely. The actors looked like they were having fun making the movie, which in turn made me enjoy the movie. It wasn’t like watching Transformers, where everyone took everything a little too seriously, which is incredibly stupid considering the movie is simply a 2-hour excuse to see robots fighting.
Center Stage. Take the Lead. Step Up. Burlesque. The new Footloose. They aren’t great movies, but I love them. Everyone knows that you don’t watch dance movies for the acting, you watch them for the incredible dancing talent on screen. Look at Step Up 4 that’s coming out this summer. I don’t know anything about the storyline (except that it’s set in Miami) and frankly I don’t really care because I know the dancing is going to be awesome. Same thing with Cobu 3D (date TBA). I know the general plot line (a modern day dance version of Romeo & Juliet), Derek Hough is the lead, Tabitha & Napoleon D’Umo choreographed – I’m totally looking forward to it. In the case of Burlesque and most musicals these days, the all-around musical performances are fun to watch.
At the end of the day, not every movie is perfect. The ones that have great everything (acting, writing, directing, music, etc.) are incredible and deserve all the praise that it gets. Movies that are from beginning to end terrible, deserve all the negativity and bad words towards it, because you just wasted 1.5 hours of your life that you’re not getting back and you wonder how that movie even got made in the first place. But if a movie has more than a few redeeming qualities, you can’t call it a bad movie – just not a very good movie. Fact of the matter is, if you leave a movie feeling as though you had a good time watching it and you were entertained by it, that’s all that matters.
Posted by: popculturedrandoms on: February 26, 2012
The nominations for the Academy Awards were announced on January 24th, celebrating the best in film of the past year. Well, best according to the producers, actors, writers, directors, etc. who make up the Academy. Not to mention there’s a really long process as to determine the nominees for Best Picture (you can read about it here, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly’s writers). Seeing as how I didn’t get this post up in a timely manner (as in the day of the nominations), I figured I might as well make my predictions to go along with my thoughts on this year’s nominees. Hugo leads the pack with 11 nominations, followed closely by The Artist with 10 nominations.
BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
It was certainly surprising to hear Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close being nominated, as it seems critics and audiences weren’t very kind to it in terms of reviews and box office revenues. Granted, before the movie came out there was the idea that the movie would be an Oscar contender, but that was before. Also, it seems that every year (or at least since the Academy expanded the number of nominees from 5) there’s at least one movie that makes it, which causes everyone to say “REALLY?” The rest were either locks for nominations or were expected to be nominated. I really wish though that the final installment of the Harry Potter series had been nominated, just as a cap to the whole series, but that’s not to say that I wasn’t entirely shocked that it wasn’t.
Unlike the past two years, I didn’t watch all the nominated movies. I got through 7 out of the 9 movies, and that was barely getting through The Tree of Life. I just couldn’t bring myself to watch War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I wasn’t even the least bit interested in seeing it. And this is coming from the fact that I sat through Winter’s Bone last year, and A Serious Man the year before.
As for predicting who will win, at this point, odds are in The Artist‘s favour. It has won the most “precursors” if you will, so it has got a lot of momentum going for it. Personally, I’d rather not see The Artist win (not that it wasn’t a good movie) but as happens most years, I always find myself rooting for a movie that isn’t the frontrunner. I like underdogs. Last year, it was a toss up between The King’s Speech and The Social Network, with the edge going to TKS. But I loved TSN, so I was really hoping it would win (obviously it didn’t). The year before, with everyone going on about how it was between Avatar and The Hurt Locker for the win, I was all “Screw that! I want Inglorious Basterds or Up In the Air to win!” This year, I’d really like it if The Help won – such a wonderful movie with great acting all around.
Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Most surprising is that The Help‘s Tate Taylor didn’t get nominated, instead Malick took his place. It’s hard to decide who should win in this category. The frontrunner in the category is Hazanavicius – I mean a silent movie, in this day and age? It was crazy talk, but it worked.
Best Actor
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
I still can’t believe that this is the first time Gary Oldman has been nominated for an Oscar. But without a doubt, the race is between George Clooney and Jean Dujardin. It’s so hard to choose because both performances were great. I mean Clooney has really never been better, but at the same time, Dujardin conveyed so many emotions without saying anything. I think I’m going to have to give the edge to Clooney.
Best Actress
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Prior to awards season truly kicking in, there was talk that Elizabeth Olsen might get in for her performance in Martha Marcy May Marlene, which I think would’ve been great. She was absolutely amazing in that movie. Alas, that was all talk. I’ll admit that I’ve only seen The Help out of the 5 performances, so that makes me biased a little bit. But you know what? I don’t care, Viola Davis absolutely deserves the win. I know Meryl Streep is LEGEND, but Davis’ performance was incredible.
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Christopher Plummer has been the winner all awards season, so there’s no doubt that he’s going to win the Oscar as well. I’ll say this though, how funny is it that we’re going to be seeing “Academy Award Nominee Jonah Hill” on movie ads from now on? I mean who woulda thunk it?
Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
There’s some reservations that both Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer are nominated for The Help, which may lead to votes being cancelled out. But Spencer’s totally got the win – like Plummer for Supporting Actor, she’s won every other award this season.
Best Original Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
Midnight in Paris might not stand much of a chance in winning the top prize, but Woody Allen sure as hell is winning here.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Jim Rash, and Nat Faxon, The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, Moneyball
Peter Straughan and Bridget O’Connor, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The way I see it, I can only really judge this category if I’ve read both the book and seen the movie – I haven’t read any of the original books and only saw 3 of the nominated films. Surprisingly, the screenplay for The Help wasn’t nominated, which REALLY doesn’t bode well for its Best Picture chances, but hey, weirder things have happened at the awards. Aaron Sorkin did the same thing with Moneyball, as he did with The Social Network - that is turn a subject/book that could’ve been really boring under the wrong hands, and co-wrote a screenplay that kept you interested regardless of whether you know baseball or not. Unfortunately, seeing as how Sorkin did just win last year for TSN, I don’t think he’s going to repeat. Chances are the writers of The Descendants are going to take it.
Best Animated Film
A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
For the first time in what feels like forever, a Pixar movie (Cars 2) didn’t get nominated, which means anything goes this year. Seeing as how The Adventures of Tintin didn’t get nominated, I think Rango‘s going to win.
Music (Original Score)
The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
The Artist, Ludovic Bource
Hugo, Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
War Horse, John Williams
How did John Williams get nominated twice, leaving Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and also last year’s winners) out of the race? For the fact that The Artist is a silent movie, making the score all the more important, I really do feel that Ludovic Bource will win.
Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from Rio, Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown, and Siedah Garrett
2 nominees? That’s it? I don’t know what to say about it really, but between the two, Bret McKenzie should win. It’s the Muppets after all!
Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Let Harry Potter win this please! A series ending, compilation win! I will admit though that the effects for Hugo were pretty incredible, not to mention the work at creating the apes of Rise. But seriously. Harry Potter!
The Oscars air on ABC, this Sunday Feb. 26th at 8:00 P.M. Billy Crystal hosts.
Posted by: popculturedrandoms on: February 13, 2012
It was only yesterday that I realized that I never actually wrote a post about the nominees (mostly due to the fact that I was on vacation when they were announced). Oh well, I’ll just post my comments that I would have in the previous post here, along with the winners.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Winner: Adele, 21
Bruno Mars, Doo Wops and Hooligans
Foo Fighters, Wasting Light
Lady Gaga, Born This Way
Rihanna, Loud
I was awfully surprised at the inclusion of Rihanna’s album. Personally, I didn’t think much of it. I would much rather have had Lady Antebellum’s Own the Night or Jay-Z & Kanye West’s Watch the Throne been nominated instead of Rihanna and Lady Gaga but that’s just me. Regardless, Adele won and deservedly so. 21 was without a doubt THE BEST ALBUM of the year.
RECORD OF THE YEAR
Winner: Adele “Rolling in the Deep”
Bon Iver “Holocene”
Bruno Mars “Grenade”
Katy Perry “Firework”
Mumford and Sons “The Cave”
Adele won for the biggest song of the year, that was a given. But I was a little surprised that Katy Perry was nominated, especially when songs like Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson’s “Don’t You Wanna Stay”, Lady Antebellum’s “Just A Kiss” and Jay-Z & Kanye West’s “Otis” were around released in the past year.
SONG OF THE YEAR
Winner: Adele “Rolling in the Deep”
Kanye West ft. Rihanna, Fergie & Kid Cudi “All of the Lights”
Mumford and Sons “The Cave”
Bruno Mars “Grenade”
Bon Iver “Holocene”
Again, I don’t think it would have mattered who was nominated because no question, Adele was going to win…and she did.
BEST NEW ARTIST
Winner: Bon Iver
The Band Perry
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex
To me, this was a ‘meh’ group of artists nominated for this category. I mean this was really the best new artists of the past year? If he hadn’t won a Grammy last year, I’m sure Bruno Mars would’ve been nominated here (under the latest Grammy rule for the category) and won. Others who should have been nominated? Christina Perri, The Civil Wars, Jessie J…any or all 3 would’ve been great. Alas, Bon Iver ended up winning the award, a surprise to many but not much to me. Granted, I haven’t really listened to their music but unlike many others, I really didn’t think Nicki Minaj was going to win. If Drake couldn’t win last year, there was no way Nicki was going to.
BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE
Winner: Adele “Someone Like You”
Bruno Mars “Grenade”
Katy Perry “Firework”
Lady Gaga “You and I”
Pink “Fuckin’ Perfect”
For this year’s Grammys, the male and female performance categories were shrunk into one, which I actually don’t mind because over the years we’ve been getting nominees that weren’t quite pop. That being said, I guess there weren’t any real issues with the nominees. All the songs were some of the biggest pop songs of the year. I do think though that Jessie J’s “Price Tag” should’ve been in contention or (longshot) Matt Nathanson’s “Modern Love.” But like it mattered anyways because Adele won.
BEST POP DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
Winner: Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse “Body and Soul”
The Black Keys “Dearest”
Coldplay “Paradise”
Foster the People “Pumped Up Kicks”
Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera “Moves Like Jagger”
What I said before about nominees not quite being pop, totally applies here. I thought Black Keys were considered alternative and Coldplay are also nominated under rock, so there’s that. Would’ve liked to see The Script nominated for “For the First Time” but I was happy enough with Maroon 5′s nod. I was obviously pulling for M5 to win but there was no way you were gonna bet against Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse.
BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM
Winner: Adele, 21
Bruno Mars, Doo-Wops and Hooligans
Cee Lo Green, The Lady Killer
Lady Gaga, Born This Way
Rihanna, Loud
No problems here except for maybe the fact that most of the Album of the Year nominees were from this category. Again, there was no betting against Adele.
BEST COUNTRY DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
Winner: The Civil Wars “Barton Hollow”
Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson “Don’t You Wanna Stay”
Kenny Chesney ft. Grace Potter “You and Tequila”
Thompson Square “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not”
I normally wouldn’t care about country all that much but Kelly Clarkson for her song with Jason Aldean was nominated! Unfortunately, they lost but they lost to The Civil Wars who were just as deserving of the award. My one surprise in this category was Lady Antebellum’s lack of a nomination for “Just A Kiss”.
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM
Winner: Lady Antebellum, Own the Night
Blake Shelton, Red River Blue
Eric Church, Chief
George Strait, Here for a Good Time
Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party
Taylor Swift, Speak Now
Didn’t really care about this category that much. I thought Taylor Swift was going to win, but I was so happy when Lady Antebellum won instead. I am totally in love with “Own the Night”, it’s just such a great album and totally deserved to win.
BEST RAP PERFORMANCE: Jay-Z & Kanye West “Otis” – Honestly, I’m just happy this song won.
BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK: The King’s Speech – I get it, it was good. But when I re-read the nominations for this category and realized that the score for “The Social Network” wasn’t nominated, I was astonished. HOW? Reznor and Ross’s score was amazing, that’s why they won an Oscar for it.
As for the performances, Adele and Jennifer Hudson’s respective performances were spectacular. Taylor Swift has never sounded better live. Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson were great until there was a mic problem near the end of the song. The Beach Boys reunion, with assistance by Maroon 5 and Foster the People was cool. Foo Fighters continue to amaze me with their live performances (I’ve never really listened to them so they’re successfully converting me into a fan).
All in all, not a bad night for music.
Posted by: popculturedrandoms on: January 27, 2012
Tonight, NBC’s Chuck aired its final episodes. I’m not going to go into detail about what happened, because if you’re a fan, you would’ve watched it.
For me, the ending was perfect. To watch the show end and not have anything to say about it afterwards is a good thing. That means there was nothing to nitpick, nothing to comment on – just letting the finale be as it is.
It’s been a tough road for Chuck. The first season got interrupted by the Writers’ Strike. At the end of every season, there were questions as to whether the show would come back for another season. Then of course it gets picked up for a 13-episode run, only to get the back 9 episodes picked up as well to make it a full season. It truly is amazing that the show got to be on the air for 5 seasons, and that the writers could do a proper finale like they did. Because as with any show, getting cancelled after the fact is frustrating to all. So an announced final season is really a gift.
I’ve loved Chuck from the beginning. For one, I am a total nerd myself so having a nerd as the titular hero was just pure awesome. But as a TV fan, I really appreciated the efforts made by the writers to create a TV show that was different than most other shows. A show that mixes action, comedy, romance with great flow is no easy feat. Not to mention the show had a lot of heart, which definitely translated to the fans.
Chuck will forever be among my favourite shows (that’s 2 Josh Schwartz shows, along with The O.C.) I love so many things about the show, but my favourite memory is actually outside of the show – going to the WB lot and our tour guide taking us to the set of Chuck (albeit not telling us ahead of time). I freaked out seeing a Buy More sign and the entire time I was in a state of utter shock and awe at standing right on the set, which was the apartment building/courtyard. Actually, before even seeing the set, I saw the Nerd Herd car and I was already happy about that. Unfortunately, I didn’t see Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, or any of the other cast members. But I will remember thinking just how cool it was to have been able to stand on the set of one of my favourite TV shows. Also, I did buy a Nerd Herd shirt at the WB shop, so I’m a total Nerd Herd For Life!
So with that I say goodbye to my favourite nerd spy (Had to be specific. Can’t betray Sydney Bristow and Nikita, after all). Thanks for 5 seasons of drama, fun, and well…awesomeness!
Posted by: popculturedrandoms on: January 4, 2012
2012 started out not so well for dance fans, when news hit that FOX had cancelled the results show for the upcoming 9th season of ‘So You Think You Can Dance‘. Executive producer and resident judge, Nigel Lythgoe tweeted the news on Sunday, which came as a shock to fans. FOX has yet to release an official statement on the news.
For many, the news of SYTYCD’s results show being cut is seen as being a step in the right direction for reality competition TV. We’ve all complained at one point or another how other reality shows like ‘American Idol’ and ‘Dancing With the Stars’ have unnecessarily long and drawn-out results shows. ‘American Idol‘ especially, is the biggest culprit of tediously long results shows, when the results of who gets sent home can/is announced in the last 5 minutes of the show. The rest of the hour is all filler with a painful group performance by the contestants, shameless promotion of a Ford vehicle, a guest performance, and the aforementioned drawn out results with countless repeatings of “Dim the lights!” and “We’ll find out…after the break!” This is not to say that ‘Dancing With the Stars‘ is any better, as instead of shameless promotion, they feature increasingly lame “comedic” filler segments, along with the usual guest performances. Both shows could use, at the very least, a cut in the results show length from one hour to a half-hour. Actually, I remember when Idol used to have half-hour results shows and at some point, they decided to increase it to one hour.
Personally, I never had a problem with SYTYCD results shows. They had a formula that worked and it didn’t feel like the results were being dragged on. Show starts with a group performance, cue opening title sequence, we find out the bottom 3 couples, special performance from the dance world, contestants dance for their lives, judges deliberate while musical guest performance takes place, find out who gets sent home – all that in one hour, doesn’t seem so bad. Now with the news that the results show is cancelled, there’s going to be some big changes to accommodate the situation. Sure, results shows aren’t particularly necessary seeing as how shows like ‘America’s Best Dance Crew’, ‘The Sing-Off’ and ‘The Voice’ have all made due with being on once a week. Let’s also not forget that SYTYCD in its first season didn’t have a results show, and because season 6 aired during the fall, the first 3 weeks of competition also didn’t feature a results show, with the judges determining the bottom 3 and who got sent home in the same episode. If SYTYCD adopts a similar format to ABDC, which is sort of what they did for the first few weeks of season 6, then it’s not so bad.
Like I said, I never really had a problem with the SYTYCD results shows. The thing I probably hate most about no results show for SYTYCD is that we probably won’t get the group routine. The group routine was my favourite part of the results shows, and a lot of them have become so memorable. Can you imagine if they never started doing results shows in season 2? We might not have gotten “Ramalama” or “Calle Ocho” in season 5 or “El Fuego” in season 8 – those were damn good group routines. Granted, season 8 started incorporating some more group routines during the performance shows, in lieu of another couple routine, but it’s just not the same. The results show group performance was sort of free of a dance style restriction. Sure, sometimes they did fall under certain styles, but you look at “Calle Ocho” which was a hip-hop/ballroom fusion and “Ramalama” was certainly like nothing else we’d seen on the show and to this day, is arguably the best group routine the show’s ever done.
Yes, the news that the results show is being cancelled comes with lots of pros and cons. My biggest gripe with this news, which not a lot of people are really considering, is that SYTYCD is a SUMMER show. As it is, there aren’t a lot of options as to what to watch during the summer. I don’t see why FOX feels the need to cancel an hour of programming in the form of the SYTYCD results show, when they probably don’t have anything else to air. If they do have something else, it’s probably another reality show of some form. So why cut SYTYCD to one night? If this was the regular TV season, it make sense to cut an hour or a half-hour of a results show, so they have room for other shows, that way long hiatuses aren’t necessary. Yes, I get that Idol has the highest number of viewers of any show. But how fair is it to, say fans of ‘Fringe’ which in its first season was put on hiatus for 2 months because of Idol? No freshman series should ever have that long of a hiatus, seeing as how many are still trying to get viewers (or in the case of Fringe, 4 seasons later, still looking for viewers in order to stay on the air). And yet, ‘Glee’ had to endure a 4-month hiatus in its first season as well, even though it was a hit and already had viewers.
At the end of the day, none of this really makes sense to me. Results shows may not be completely necessary, but we’re talking the summer TV season, in which case, I will gladly take an extra hour of SYTYCD over a re-run or some other stupid reality show the network tries to get me to watch.
Posted by: popculturedrandoms on: January 2, 2012
For the past few years, I’ve become intrigued by finding out where TV shows and movies get filmed. In the past I just thought it was cool when I heard a movie was shooting somewhere in Ontario, didn’t really give it much thought beyond that. I’m guessing it’s safe to say that my interest piqued when I went to Los Angeles 2 years ago. It was my first time back to L.A. in about 5 years, so it was a different feeling being there at 21 than 16. Anyways, when I went I started doing research as to where some things were filmed. I really just ended up looking at where The O.C. used to be filmed.
Now I really started getting interested in where things were being filmed, especially in the Toronto area. Things really went to another level once I found out last year that Nikita was being filmed (mostly) in Toronto. I went into uber-fan mode: “OMG! They are filming in Toronto! I have to go there more often than I do! I could meet Maggie Q or Shane West!” I just thought it was the coolest thing EVER (kind of still is).
I went back to L.A. last December and decided to be my pop culture geek self and went on a tour of the Warner Brothers lot. Best $45 I spent. Being able to see the sets of these shows I love, it was a little unreal. I got to see Central Perk. I stood on the set of Chuck. It was so cool seeing the stages and even just the “regular town” sets.
There is a point in prefacing my blog with these stories, as I so often do. In the past year of watching television, it occurred to me that while it was cool finding out/knowing where some things were filmed, it took me out of watching the show. My suspension of disbelief was temporarily lifted when I knew exactly where something was filmed.
I remember when Nikita filmed for a day in my hometown of Cambridge. They posted in the local newspaper that the bridge in the downtown area was going to be shut down for the day for filming, and when I read it, I freaked knowing that I literally could go see Maggie Q. I made my attempts at trying to find and meet her, but luck was not on my side that day. When the episode (1×18, “Into the Dark”) aired, I got excited watching it but quickly realized I shouldn’t have been. The scenes that were filmed in Cambridge were meant to be a substitute for London, England, so as soon as they said they were in London, I’m like thinking “They’re in Cambridge!” Took me right out of it. Not to mention, as the scenes played out, I’d go “That’s City Hall! There’s the bridge! And the church near the bridge, etc.”
Back in October, after a concert, my friend and I had to go pick up her brother and drive him back with us. As we pulled onto the street where he lived, we saw all these crew trucks and I’m thinking “Are they filming something here? What are they filming? Is it Nikita?!” Short answer: Yes, it was ‘Nikita’ and apparently they’ve been there all week according to my friend’s brother (he didn’t even have the decency to tell us ahead of time.) I managed to catch a glimpse of Maggie Q when we passed by but couldn’t actually meet her. Again, the episode (2×08, “London Calling”) airs, and I’m like “Hey! I know where they filmed that!”, followed by “Damn it! I’m not supposed to know!” Didn’t help matters that in one of the scenes you can still see an Ontario license plate on one of the cars, when they’re supposedly in London (and there I go being one of those annoying people noticing goofs).
Most recently, I saw promo pictures for the upcoming episode (2×11, “Pale Fire”) and soon realized that they had come back to Cambridge to film part of the episode. Unfortunately, I was away on vacation at the time, or else you bet I would’ve known about it and went to find a way to meet Shane West and Devon Sawa. This is how bad it’s getting: I can tell from a picture where they’re filming, and the background was blurry because the focus of the pic was Shane and Devon.
Obviously my interest in knowing where ‘Nikita’ is being filmed is starting to hinder my TV watching experience. And it’s not just ‘Nikita’ that this happens. I’ve watched episodes of ‘Covert Affairs’ and ‘Suits’ where some shots, I’m like “That’s [insert street/place] in Toronto!” because I know those shows are shot in Toronto. Watching the second episode of ‘Hart of Dixie’, they introduced the Rammer Jammer, the local bar/hangout. The Rammer Jammer is also known as Merlotte’s from ‘True Blood’. How do I know that (besides from watching True Blood)? The tour guide pointed it out when I went on the WB Studio tour. From that point on, I’ve been watching ‘Hart of Dixie’ calling the Rammer Jammer, Merlotte’s, and wondering where on the WB lot they’re filming.
But the funny thing is I watch ‘Chuck’ and I don’t even think about the fact that I stood on the set. Same thing with watching ‘Friends’ re-runs – I don’t think about the fact that I saw Central Perk and sat on the couch.
Which leads me to wonder, at what point does knowing a shooting location affect how you watch TV? Is it different knowing that something is a set that was built specifically for that TV show, as opposed to something that’s a part of the world? Because clearly my issues of disbelief arise seeing the streets of Toronto + Cambridge being used as the streets of New York, Washington, London, etc. Also, how do people in LA and NY deal with this? Although I guess, when something is meant to be LA and it is shot in LA, it shouldn’t be such a problem.
Lesson from all this? Maybe I should be less obsessive about ‘Nikita’ and just in general, watch less TV….That’s most likely not going to happen.
Posted by: popculturedrandoms on: December 31, 2011
It is December 31st, last day of 2011 – I’d say it’s about time I do my favourites list for the year.
FAVOURITE ALBUMS
FAVOURITE MOVIES
Admittedly, I didn’t see that many movies this year, especially in theatres, and so I’ve been catching up as they’ve gotten released on DVD (or I watched it on the plane during my vacation). I’m sure this list would’ve been more extensive had I seen more movie, but this will do.
FAVOURITE TV SHOWS
Posted by: popculturedrandoms on: September 5, 2011
I. LOVE. DANCE. I make no qualms about my love for it, as evidenced by a lot of my other posts. I geek out over dancers probably just as much as actors and musicians, if not more. And I’m not just talking about the dancers from So You Think You Can Dance, even though I do do the whole fan thing and meet them on tour, despite the fact that the majority of them are all younger than me, which is kind of weird…but I digress (holy run-on sentence! ahaha). I’m including dancers obviously from SYTYCD and DWTS, but also dancers I know of from Paris By Night, concert tours, music videos, etc.
I don’t claim to be an expert or know much about the dance world. There are a lot of others out there who follow the competition circuits, so they know a lot more about all this other amazing talent. I don’t follow it, so I can’t comment on it. Likewise, I don’t have much of an opinion when it comes to the world of ballet, because I don’t know much about it. What I know is from what I see, and what I see is what’s embedded in popular culture. That’s just me.
My fascination with dance started – and has at this point, probably been well-documented within this blog – when I was a kid watching Paris By Night (I promise not to go too much into my fandom with PBN). I’m not entirely sure what it was but I was just really interested in dance. I was just a kid, so I wanted to learn some of the dance moves I saw or make my own, that type of thing. One of the big turning points, the time where my interest in dance was heightened and brought up to another level was definitely with the pop movement that came in the late 90s. I was 10-ish, NSYNC, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and the like were all coming on the scene and apart of this movement. With this, I found myself, especially with Britney, actively trying to learn the choreography in the music videos. Being a Britney fan, I watched everything I could of her performances and concerts on TV (wayyyy before going to concerts was a regular thing for me), and from those I got to know who her dancers were. Now comes the second of the big turning points, which was when I saw Tania Ante on Paris By Night, and I remember saying “Hey! That’s one of Britney’s dancers!” From then on, obviously I’ve paid a special attention to the dancers that come on to PBN. I can’t recall ALL of the dancers who have come and gone through PBN, but I make a very solid effort to keep track.
Despite years of Dance Crew during high school, I would never consider myself a dancer or particularly good at dancing, regardless of my efforts. I’ve always been more of an enthusiast, I think. But at the same time, a part of me always wonders what if as a kid I had asked to take dance classes? I mean I obviously loved learning choreography that I see on my TV, and to this day, every once in a while I’ll still find myself attempting to learn some choreo that I see. But if I had taken classes, would I have an even greater appreciation and passion for it? Would I be dancing with these dancers I admire, instead of just being a spectator?
These questions really just lead to my thoughts and wonderment of dancing as a career, as a way of life. You watch dancers put themselves through so much, so they can support themselves and make a living doing what they love. It’s not unlike what anybody else wants – make a living with their dream job – but dance comes with such a huge physical risk and dancers put themselves through a lot to be able to do what they love.
This now leads to the whole purpose of this posting – the “It’s About Time” campaign. The Dancers’ Alliance, an organization with a purpose of bringing solidarity within the dance community, is currently working with AFTRA (the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) on the campaign, which works towards creating a fair union contract (including rules for proper compensation/benefits, safety, etc.) for dancers in music videos.
Music videos have been around for 30 years. Before, it was a promotional tool to supplement the release of a single by a music artist. Nowadays, on top of being another aspect to a single release, it is an extra source of revenue for artists/labels because of the technological age that we are in. MTV barely ever plays music videos because all the videos are on YouTube/Vevo with money being made.
It’s sort of unbelievable to think that after 30 years, it is only now that work is being done to give dancers what they deserve in terms of benefits and earnings on music videos. 30 years, which included numerous iconic music videos that became that way in part due to the work of dancers. You can’t argue and say that dancers aren’t important. Those great music videos from Madonna, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson in the older days, and these days from Britney Spears, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, would not be the same without the inclusion of dancers.
Dancers are an integral part to the music video making process. They deserve to be paid fairly and treated with respect under safe working conditions. It’s give and take. They offer up their talent and professionalism, the least producers (or whoever is involved in making the video) can do is give the dancers fair treatment.
The Dancers’ Alliance have been releasing a series of videos featuring a multitude of dancers and choreographers in hopes to rally support for the campaign. Two amazing dancers (who also happen to be PBN dance alums), Randi Kemper and Bryan Tanaka have already done videos in support of the campaign.
To watch the other videos in the campaign, check out: www.youtube.com/dancersalliance
For more information:
30 Years. IT’S ABOUT TIME.
Posted by: popculturedrandoms on: August 11, 2011
I’m not sure there’s much more to add to what’s already out there, but here’s my thoughts on last night’s finale anyways.
Yes, the show fell a little flat and ended up being kind of disappointing. I mean with such a strong Final 4, you couldn’t help but wish they had gotten more to work with. Obviously yes, we can chalk it up to fatigue, because with 4 dances a piece plus a solo, they were definitely going to be tired. However, that’s always been the case with the finales: all the contestants dance with each other and then in this year’s case, they dance a routine with an all-star (the 4th number was a group routine in previous years). But for some reason, it feels like this year’s group got it the hardest as far as all the things they have to do for these finale shows. Maybe that’s just me, but it seems that way.
At the same time though, the dancer’s fatigue is one part, but the other part is what they’re given to dance. I don’t just mean the choreography, but the dance style and choreographer as well. Yes, it applies for the whole season, the whole luck of the draw, but it’s particularly important for the finale. From the way I see it, having watched every season of SYTYCD, there are things that should not be in the finale.
I think overall, we just needed a lot more excitement in the routines, and that also stems from the music being used.
Now, as far as choosing a winner, it’s a little hard. If we look at who got the most variety in styles, Marko should take it – he got Disco, Broadway, Contemporary, Stepping. Melanie, Sasha & Tadd all got at least 2 routines that were firmly in their wheelhouse (or in Tadd’s case, pretty damn close). But if a girl should win (and probably will) it has to be Melanie, bias aside.
Anyways, still looking forward to the finale tonight, despite a lackluster performance show.
