UPDATE: Sorry if you listened to the song that was on the playlist earlier. That was most definitely NOT the song I meant to choose. The correct one is up now. Sure picked a great day to remind everyone of the playlist...Don't worry the title of this post is an actual song. Check the music player if you don't believe me.
And yes, this blog is meant to be read while listening to the corresponding tune. If you aren't doing it the only person you are hurting is yourself.
Whedonism, like Hedonism... Yup, just like Hedonism
If you haven't been taking part in culture lately you probably haven't heard of Joss Whedon. But if you've been using your T.V. or computer for anything worthwhile, chances are you've run across him and his band of cohorts.
Whedon is the writer and creator of Buffy, Angel and Firefly. Both Buffy and Firefly, now off the air, have developed huge cult followings and have spawned entire movements, of varying success, to get the funding and interest together to enable Whedon to expand their storylines. Minor successes include the production of Serenity, a feature length movie based on the Firefly storyline, and the creation of the Buffy comics, which pick up where the 7th season left off. The Buffy animated series, however, never quite took off.
More recently though Joss has been teaming up with some of the best in the biz for a new project: Dr. Horrible, a three part web-series starring Nathan Fillion (Captain Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly), Felicia Day (from the web-series The Guild), and Neil Patrick Harris (Barney from the CBS series How I Met Your Mother). Basically each of these actors has more starpower in their pinky-finger than any other B-actor out there right now and in Dr. Horrible they put it to good use - musical style. Felicia Day, I might add, is not only cute as a button, but also played a slayer called Vi in season 7 of Buffy.
Firefly, HIMYM and The Guild should each independently be recognized as some of the best entertainment offered to the American public in the last couple years, and when you take the most beloved character from each of these shows, and stir in a healthy shot of Whedon, you've got a hit. You've also got servers crashing from the overwhelming number of fans watching Dr. Horrible repeatedly on the day of it's debut and a #1 ranking on ITunes sales because people would rather buy the show than wait a few hours for servers to bring back up the website where they could watch it for free. Originally in three parts, Dr. Horrible is now hosted on Hulu (see end of post) in a single, uncut episode.
What's most exciting though is the fact that this fall Joss has something new in store: a weekly drama called Dollhouse. This new project stars Eliza Dushku who also played a slayer named Faith from the Buffy series (so much for "one girl in every generation"). Dushku plays one of the "Actives," a group of people who have "voluntarily" given up whatever lives they had before to become Matrix-breaking superhumans who forfeit their memories and enter into the employ of a shady organization who rents them out as assassins, personal security guards and arm-candy. I think the premise of the show is great and that Joss is doing something he hasn't done before: make us think. While Buffy and Firefly were immensely entertaining they lacked substance. This new show should raise some really important questions of ethics, morality and definitions of humanity. It's just a shame it'll be on FOX.
One of the great advantages of science fiction is it's ability to show us potential moral difficulties in society and give us a chance to work through them before we even have to deal with them. Often, with a real visionary, like Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov or George Orwell, the distopian future they depict begins to become reality before anyone takes sufficient notice. Sometime before the new season of Heroes begins I'll write a defense of Sci-Fi, but for now I'll take your objections.
Check out Dollhouse:
Hopefully the next couple weeks will give you just enough time to get hooked on HIMYM before this blog becomes entirely devoted to it (and Heroes) when the new fall line-up begins in a couple weeks.
So long Scoobies.
Also, if the ol' blog gets 50 hits today there'll be a contest starting tomorrow, with great prizes for all!!!!*
Watch (Legally!):
Dr. Horrible
The Guild
Buffy (Seasons 1 and 2)
How I Met Your Mother
*By "all" I mean the one person that makes me like them the most.
11 comments:
The only Live Sci-Fi series I have watched since Farscape died is Torchwood. I don't really like Buffy-guy's type of show.
Torchwood, however, is delicious cake. Which reminds me, I need to find out if they are making a third season...
Zach what do I have to do to make you like me the most? I could send you dinner every week? Let me know....As for your Buffy addiction, maybe you should talk to someone about that.
Torchwood. I've always meant to watch that.
Maggie, to make me like you most you would probably have to fly out here for labor day weekend with your husband. But, should of that, you could probably just bake me cookies.
Zach, I think I like your blog because you're constantly saying things I completely agree with. But then again, I think I hate your blog for the same reason (Why couldn't I have thought of that first?!). :-)
I have to say that Firefly is the single greatest half-season of television ever, and HIMYM is by far my favorite show on television right now.
Speaking of Sci-Fi, you should read the book We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (by Orwell's own admission, the inspiration for 1984). If you find the original Russian a little too challenging, the translation by Clarence Brown is superb. Plus it's only like 200 pages long in a big font, so even if you don't like it, it'll go by quickly. :-)
I feel that this post is a little lackluster then I had hoped when I first pitched the idea to you Zach. While I feel with out a doubt Firefly and Serenity are two of Joss's greatest works, I think that many people are turned off from Buffy due to its title, and upfront pledge to Sci-Fi within it's title "the Vampire Slayer." Some may find the show itself hard to get into as the first season is clearly dated, "carbon dated." However I challenge your remarks that the show lacks substance, or the ability to make viewers think. I encourage everyone to watch the series from beginning to end, however look to episodes like "Earshot" & "Band Candy" in season 3, "Hush" in season 4, "The Body" in season 5, and of course "Once More With Feeling" in season 6. These episodes not only reflect the range of originality of the show, but also the true connection the show makes to the world at large and the basic human emotions that infect us all. I am clearly an addict of the show and Joss Whedon in general, but this addict is willing and the night is always darkest before the dawn, bring it on haters!
Kendra, I'll do my best to find that book, but I don't know when I'll next have time to read it.
Have you ever read Isaac Asimov?
The Brown translation is the Penguin Classics version. It won't take you more than a lazy weekend afternoon to finish it. I actually haven't read any Asimov, but I've heard good things. I assume you have a favorite...
Caleb, we should get together some time. You can watch Buffy and have hurried conversations with Brad over the phone about Angel, and I can listen to American Idiot for the 1,000+ time, while my M14 is cradled on my lap, and write self-satisfying Pat-Rants addressed only to myself.
Actually, I forgot about The Reaper, which I also totally dig. I kind of fell out of it because of the writer strike, though.
Pat - Really? I knew they had something happen awhile ago (their pastor alluded to it) but I didn't know it was that church.
Kendra - I really like The Foundation Series. I should do a post on it sometime. It's pretty popular and available at any library, but I would recommend having your own copy. The first book is just called "Foundation". Check it out and let me know what you think.
Unfortunately Yes, Zach.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_J._Murray
Churches, as well as schools, school-buses, malls, and college campuses are viewed as "soft targets", in that little to no resistance can be expected within the time it takes for police to respond. This gives a shooter 2-10 minutes carry out their goal, in this case, a sadistic one.
"I'm coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the ...teeth and I WILL shoot to kill... God, I can't wait till I can kill you people. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame, I don't care if I live or die in the shoot-out. All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world."
Thankfully this time, the shooter chose his target poorly. Unlike Columbine (also in CO) or Virginia Tech, he encountered someone not only with the tool to stop him, but the know-how and bravery to use the tool.
Mrs. Assam scored three hits at a considerable range under heavy pressure- all with a handgun, going against an adversary armed with a rifle. Unbelievable. The shooter in this case over 1,000 rounds of ammo compared to Cho's 300 rounds of handgun ammo. It's difficult to say how many lives this armed citizen saved.
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