Feb 08
What’s all this hoopla about a superb owl? I don’t get it.
Anyway, apparently there were some great commercials and movie trailers on tv last night. Here are all of the trailers in one spot.
Mar 31
Can you spot them all? I know Jim can. If anyone needs help, here’s a key.
Dec 27
Interesting list of the 50 greatest cartoons as voted on by the animation industry in 1994. Warning: cool youtube footage–this will waste your time if you happen to be at work.
Oct 11
Jun 03
Jan 26
Dec 31
Nov 22
Bob Saget is God – ALL HAIL THE GREAT LORD AND SAVIOR
(Thanks, Jim)
Oct 25
Are you tired of being forced to watch tv everywhere you go? Waiting rooms, restaurants, public restrooms–there seems no limit to the amount of television we are expected to consume. Well, if you’re really tired of it (like I am), here’s a new product you may enjoy. The TV-B-Gone is a keychain remote that turns off any tv around. Just click one button and it scans the room, detects their remote codes, and switches them off. They can be turned on again, of course, but at least you’ll have a few moments of peace. I’m really not as militant as all this sounds, but I can’t help but agree with the guy in this article when he shut off a tv in a downtown diner, making a patron get up and leave: “We just saved him several minutes of his life.”
Jun 23
Finally, the first season of Northern Exposure has been released on DVD. I scooped up a copy pronto. Once you get yours, why not sign the petition asking Universal Studios to release all six seasons?
Mar 11
When you’re watching television, do you ever get that feeling that no matter what happens, in some way you’ve seen it all before? Well, you have, according to the authors of The Catalogue of Television Tropes, Idioms, and Devices. Some examples:
“McGuffin (aka: MacGuffin or maguffin) is a term for a device or plot element in a movie that is deliberately placed to catch the viewer’s attention and/or drive the logic of the plot, but which actually serves no further purpose – it won’t pop up again later, it won’t explain the ending, it won’t actually do anything except possibly distract you while you try to figure out its significance. More specifically, it is usually a mysterious package or superweapon or something that everyone in the story is chasing.
Possibly coined by Alfred Hitchcock. The perfect example is the “government secrets” that motivate the action in North By Northwest (1959). Another typical McGuffin is the Maltese Falcon. It gets the characters together, pits them against each other, but turns out to be worthless.
Three Is Company: An episode based on a misheard conversation.
Mistaken For Gay: A comedy plot line in which a character wrongly believes another character to be gay, either because of misinformation received or because of the supposedly gay character’s own misinterpreted words and actions. Once the character is taken to be a homosexual, all his words and actions become laden with innuendo and further misunderstandings ensue. Recent examples include “Frasier” and “Seinfeld.” This ploy was actually a plot device and a running gag on “Three’s Company”.
She Is All Grown Up: Ugly duckling loses the glasses and walks down the stairs as a swan. Someone please, please subvert this one.”
The cool thing is that these observations aren’t just snarky, cynical quips about how television sucks, etc. They’re actually part of a catalogue of the “tricks of the trade for writing television scripts,” as the authors of the Front Page say. As they describe it, “the idea is to provide a resource for writers to spark ideas. Finding a cliché to subvert is always fun.”
On behalf of all us disgruntled television viewers out here, thank you. Subvert away.
via boingboing
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