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Is there a right time to pull violent TV episodes?

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:40:00 +0000

Last month, while at work on a sunny spring morning, a co-worker stood up and somewhat haltingly announced there had been at least one explosion at a marathon that was going on downtown. Instinctively a few of us went to Twitter to search for any additional news. The pictures that we found online in the first ten minutes after the initial reports of explosions were far more gruesome than most horror movies or television shows available.

In the days and weeks after the blasts we all processed it as best we could, employing coping skills dusty with disuse. The news ran around the same facts over and over. Slogans were invented. Charities were established. The President made a speech. Then, in the middle of it all, a few television shows decided against airing their planned weekly content “out of respect.” “Hannibal” ended up not airing their episode at all, despite making it available on iTunes. (I’m pretty sure it was about kids who had been brainwashed to become mini terminators for a serial killer’s casual use. I haven’t researched it fully, because I’m behind, and don’t want to accidentally spoil anything for myself.) “Castle” showed a rerun, but then ran the episode this week with a warning preceding it stating that it might be disturbing for some. (A guy was blown up in his car by a bomb, or a drone or something else with ‘splodey powers. The government was involved.) The bottom line was, someone somewhere at the network thought we were too fragile to handle their violent make believe stories.

Can Netflix save TV?

Sat, 11 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

There are a number of headlines floating around about Netflix the last few weeks, especially because of the upcoming return of “Arrested Development” and the debuts of “House of Cards” and “Hemlock Grove.” What used to be the common refrain of hoping that TBS might save a cancelled show, or that the network in question would recognize its terrible mistake once the DVD sales numbers detonated, has now become the hope that Netflix will be the white knight of disgruntled fans. I’ve seen headlines in the last few weeks, trade news stories written solely about what one disposable Netflix executive or another said when asked about Netflix picking up some random show.

“The Walking Dead”: Anti-libertarian critique

Sun, 05 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

I watched the first two seasons of “The Walking Dead” over the last couple of weeks, and am as thoroughly spoiled on the events of the third season as one can be without actually watching them. And some of the familiar beats struck me, the worn narrative ruts that other stories have carved, but we rarely pay much attention to.

There comes a moment in nearly all post-apocalyptic stories when the characters are compelled to take to the road. In reality, if there is such a thing, people would do the exact opposite. They stay in familiar halls, linger on the same few streets that are most comfortable. The staples of the genre’s thought experiment would hold true in the real world: the breakdown of order, the need to rummage further and further from home. But that need to expand would likely take place in a widening gyre, not an escape onto a road to the horizon. I Am Legend is perhaps the exception that proves the rule, in which the protagonist stays in his home for the entire tale, fortifying his little suburban ranch house against the end of the world.

Gary Busey auditions for reality show on Mars

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:13:00 +0000

On Jimmy Kimmel last night, Gary Busey showed his audition reel for Mars One, a reality show that it being planned by a non-profit organization in order to create a settlement on Mars (for real). It’s basically a one-way trip to Mars, where apparently viewers at home can watch the participant expire. In space.

Good times.

Anyway, Busey’s audition reel is hilarious and kooky and everything you’d expect from a Gary Busey audition reel for a one-way trip to Mars. “I don’t let anything get me down,” he says, “because I am positive. If you’re not positive, don’t go to Mars, because you’ll get trapped in your own eating habits. When you find yourself eating part of your calf muscle, you should not be on Mars.”

Wise. Insane. Busey.

Down with song-lyric fascists

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Mrs. Pajiba-hyphenate’s biggest pet peeve around the house is that it drives her absolutely bonkers if, while idly sing-songing about the house, I botch the lyrics to the tune I’m belting out. It’s an annoyance that she’s passed on to my 5 year old, whose forehead veins pop whenever I mangle a lyric. He insists that I sing it again until I identify the correct lyrics, and it’s only then that the vein will subside.

It’s a very serious problem in our home, and I suspect it’s a problem in other houses around America: Song-lyric fascists are ruining our fun. Because here’s the thing: Song lyrics are constructs. They are guidelines. Song lyrics, like the Constitution, are living, breathing words. We bend them to our will. They are not meant to be taken literally. In fact, song lyrics are often indecipherable junk written to accompany the melody and rarely to stand on their own. They are not poems. We do not derive meaning from their words; we experience the music. The mood. The feeling. The joy or the sadness. The lyrics glue the music together, but they are not fixed.

Dunham can’t write men

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:18:00 +0000

Nevermind that only 400,000 people in her target demo actually watch the show, “Girls,” Lena Dunham is the “voice of her generation,” which is something that people want to keep reminding us of. I’m skeptical about the notion of an entire generation being reduced to one voice — especially when that voice is of a woman from New York who dates rock stars — but I’m sure that there are many things about her particular way of life that Lena Dunham nails, and it’s probably fair to conclude that she is a decent representative of women whose fathers painted overtly sexual pop art and hangs out in multimillion-dollar Brooklyn walk-ups with the children of other famous people.

Does Tina Fey still have Sarah Palin down? You betcha!

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:18:00 +0000

On last night’s "Inside the Actors Studio," Tina Fey was generous enough to bring back her Sarah Palin impression, and given how absolutely fantastic she was, either she knew it was coming, or she’s very quick on her feet.

“What is your view on same-sex marriage?”

“Well, the Bible says it’s gross.”

Joss Whedon on “Much Ado About Nothing”: “It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever done”

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:26:00 +0000

Directly after the premiere of Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing at SXSW this weekend, Whedon and 14 members of the cast took to the stage with moderator Adam Vary of Buzzfeed to discuss the film and answer questions from the audience. Though the entire cast (including Whedon regulars Fran Kanz, Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker and Tom Lenk) was charming as hell, panel pros Whedon and Nathan Fillion (who plays Dogberry in the film) were next level charismatic. They fielded a volley of “Firefly” questions and uber fan meltdowns with an equal mix of dry wit and sincere apprectiation for their rabid fanbase. Here are our spoiler-free highlights.

As Dan mentioned in his review , Whedon’s wry, modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy of sex, jealousy and skirmishes of wit was shot over two weeks and at his own home. The sprawling house, designed by Whedon’s wife Kai Cole, was the real inspiration for the film. Whedon remarked, “I regret that I didn’t have a steady cam to capture the flow of the rooms. I really feel like I let the house down.”

What happened to Orson Scott Card?

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:46:00 +0000

When I was twelve years old, I read Ender’s Game and had my mind blown. This was an author that not only understood children, but understood smart children. In stories, children tend to be presented as either miniature adults, or some sort of mentally disabled version of human beings. Card blew those tropes out of the water with children who fight, die, bond, and think, while still retaining the vestiges of childhood that render their decisions often inexplicable to adults. And that’s the key to why these characters, of Ender and Peter and Valentine, still pop off the page almost thirty years later.

I have an almost infinite number of books that I recommend people to read at one point or another, but Ender’s Game is on that very short list of novels that I feel is truly universal. Every aspect of the novel revolves around a nuanced exploration of what empathy really is and why it matters. From Peter’s use of empathy as a weapon, to Valentine’s uncontrollable sympathy for those around her, to Ender’s devastating tension between the two. This is a novel for those who think and feel too deeply.

My Valentine’s Day miracle

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:15:00 +0000

In September 2011, from the moment my wife and I found out that she was pregnant with monoamniotic twins, I made the decision not to talk about it online until — unless — we came out at the end of it with two healthy babies. The idea that I could one day share this story with the Pajiban community — whether you guys wanted to hear it or not — actually motivated me during much of what would be the most harrowing 22 weeks of our lives. It was an experience that’s more important for me to tell than for you guys to read, but since this particular occurrence is so rare, it may also be important story to put out on the Internet where I hope it may provide at lease some comfort to others going through the same ordeal.