you french great

Waiting for Pilot Pickups

Mon, 06 May 2013 18:24:01 -0400

Waiting for Pilot Pickups

So Modern Family Nail polish exists

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 03:29:47 -0400

So Modern Family Nail polish exists

"The world needs women to redefine success beyond money and power. We need a third metric, based on..."

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:35:23 -0400

“The world needs women to redefine success beyond money and power. We need a third metric, based on our well-being, our health, our ability to unplug and recharge and renew ourselves, and to find joy in both our job and the rest of our life. Ultimately, success is not about money or position, but about living the life you want, not just the life you settle for.”

- Arianna Huffington on “Lean In” and defining success

On the prowl

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 23:44:44 -0400

On the prowl

Another night made possible by the best group of friends anyone...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 22:33:07 -0400

Another night made possible by the best group of friends anyone could ask for, and all I have to show for it is a bevy of delicious treats ❤

lifeserial: And we kept saying how we’d never stay in Los...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:40:33 -0400

lifeserial:

And we kept saying how we’d never stay in Los Angeles forever, how it’s not a forever-place. Except this morning, staring at my pants in the closet, I thought that we’d eventually just find ourselves having stayed here forever. You and me and everyone else we know in different formations or pairings, maybe, with lives that have gotten bulky or skeletal from all of the decisions and the choices and the living. We’ll be closer to the water somehow in an old house with all of the old things we’ve collected as we’ve collectively gotten older. You and me and everyone else, older and still here. Because I don’t want to wear pants, and here I can most often wear last year’s pants that I’ve hacked off above the knee, and I can most often wear some T-shirt I’ve had for so long and washed and washed till it’s gotten thin around the bones in my shoulders. And when it’s the first day of spring and it’s not snowing and it’s overcast but it’s not cold, not cold the way that other people know cold and live with cold, we will just wander out of the house in whatever with our hair saying whatever and our faces saying whatever and our mouths saying whatever. Of course there will be those times when the ground got upset and our whole houses moved on their own, but then I’ll think about how I, too, get upset—you and me and everyone else, we get upset sometimes—and so…whatever. Hollywood will still hang around the corner with a wide white smile that’s so horrific I gasp and shake my head and maybe laugh, and I’ll have to force-remember how there is a lot of everything else here too. There is a lot, and that is what has made this not a forever-place and a place we’ve found ourselves staying forever, looking at our aging faces in the mirror fifteen, twenty, thirty years later and seeing palm trees out the window behind us. Sit on the sofa, stare at the wall, walk by the ocean, run. You and me and everyone else we know, different but still holding onto some shred of the same, in tiny colored boxes, living our secret little lives.

tvhangover: HBO: The Cool Kids With Nothing To Say Anymore When...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:26:54 -0400

tvhangover:

HBO: The Cool Kids With Nothing To Say Anymore

When it comes to original, scripted programming, HBO has firmly secured its place in the echelon of “television do-gooders”. A beautiful list of groundbreaking dramas and comedies have been birthed by this pay-channel that once had insight and, well, balls, along with the censor-less freedom to tackle any subject matter they desired. It’s the beast of this latter ability, however, alongside with general cool-hunting that has reared its ratings-hungry head in the face of what once made the channel’s original programming so wonderful and subsequently, let if fall by the wayside.

It comes as absolutely no surprise that in the past eight weeks HBO has renewed Girls for its third season and cancelled Enlightened after its tour-de-force second. Obviously, television exists in a Gladiator-esque forum wherein the bloodthirsty masses thrust gut-reaction thumbs by way of ad sales and ratings figures. The once-virgin beauty of HBO, however, eschewed this system—not only by existing as a subscription service that forewent traditional commercial breaks, but also in their creative direction to push forward with well-written, unflinching, and remarkable stories about, basically, being human. That’s what has so often worked in their favor. Maybe not always for their ratings but if not there then definitely in esteemed accolades (which then inflated their amount of subscribers anyway).

Throughout the mid-nineties this alternative comedy edge stayed sharp and gave us Arliss, Tenacious D, Tracy Takes On..., and the brilliant Mr. Show. Then, HBO almost completely ended their sketch sensibilities with their first hour-long drama: Oz, a chillingly realistic and deftly written tragedy about life, or lack thereof, in prison (a particularly violent show that my parents, who held strictly true to the age limits of the MPAA, actually made me watch to deter me from a life of crime—I was fifteen; it worked). Oz was the harbinger of HBO’s golden age. In the next five years earth-shattering shows such as Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and The Wire would leave their imprints in television history alongside well-tailored and beautiful mini-series like Angels in America and Band of Brothers. The amount of Emmys this half-decade period produced would be enough to melt down and fund a new space program.

If the early 90s was HBO’s “Cult” period then afterward came the period of “Storytelling,” with an intermediate phase that had a logistical crossover between them. They took steps to get there and they took them well. On the tail end of their golden age, however, another intermediate period began to develop crossing an emphasis on storytelling with what was working so well for their ratings: edgy ideas. And so were born Entourage, Deadwood, Extras*, Big Love, Flight of The Concords*, and True Blood [*although these only lasted two seasons, it’s important to note that, unlike Enlightened, they chose to cancel themselves]. These shows were still interesting enough outside of their “quirky” settings by handling their scenarios just as well as continuing to tell good, and sometimes great, stories (even if Entourage and True Blood devolved into mindless garbage over the years, both had substantial and promising beginnings that lasted more than two seasons). These shows were the tipping point, and the tail end of the “storytelling” era, that brought us into the current state of affairs at HBO: the era of “Cool”.

Concerned more with bringing in viewers in a climate of rapidly decreasing television viewership than dedicating themselves to excellent craftsmanship, HBO seemed to seek out a large amount of salacious and surprising material, with an eye on the modern youth who was more into downloading than buying premium packages through their cable provider. Hung (a show that never knew which tone it wanted to convey), How To Make It In America (a show that had most of the puzzle pieces of Girls but focused more on achieving success than on absurd confessional-ism), and Bored to Death (the only one that seemed to harbor sharp writing and a sense of fresh modernity) all failed early on. Instead of rethinking their rubric, they pushed for more ratings-bait ideas— where now the popularity of a show won over its quality.

Now, this is not to say that some shows still exist on the channel that juggle both: Game of Thrones is a masterfully handled storytelling experience, but it also had a largely built-in fanbase to begin with and has filled a fantasy void in most television viewers’ schedules. Girls and Eastbound and Down both had subtle, heart-examining first seasons worthy of many merits, but soon after started focusing more on shock with nearly robotic human interactions. But the ratings were still there, so they got to stay. Veep is too early to call and The Newsroom is too Sorkinese of a wild card.

Unfortunately, this is just how it seems to go when you have a good thing on your hands. If HBO was the punk in a Stooges jacket it was only a matter of time until he traded in his safety pins and liberty spikes for a 401k and a house in the suburbs. Maybe FX, with its shining light Louie (hey! remember when HBO fucked this up all those years ago?!), is the young-blood following in its footsteps.

This current model, this cool-huntin, is bound to fail. If I learned anything in high school it’s that trying to convince anyone else that you’re cool will tell them just the opposite. Jonah Hill’s character says in 21 Jump Street, about the current state of coolness: “liking comic books is popular, environmental awareness, being tolerant…” So does that, coupled with its complete lack of trying to be so, make Enlightened the coolest show around? Then good riddance, HBO, because House of Cards, Cougar Town, Arrested Development, and Friday Night Lights have shown us that there is life off the networks and life after cancellation.

Alan Hanson is a writer who can be found here.

Well said, I haven’t watched Enlightened yet but I’m shocked HBO cancelled it despite Girls reaching a series low for its finale.

fuckyeahaquariums: From this past New Girl! Arguably one of the...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:19:32 -0400

fuckyeahaquariums:

From this past New Girl! Arguably one of the more funnier episodes :D

I love seeing aquariums in the media *v*

potentially my favorite comment ever

storesnexttobobsburgers: Last of the Mousehicans Pest...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:38:07 -0400

storesnexttobobsburgers:

Last of the Mousehicans Pest Control

wow

storesnexttobobsburgers: Mother Daughter Laser Razor Does Your...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:36:31 -0400

storesnexttobobsburgers:

Mother Daughter Laser Razor

Does Your Face Hurt? Beauty Supplies

One of my favorite store names

Bob's Burgers "Harry Truman" Song Video Tribute - YouTube

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:29:18 -0400

Bob's Burgers "Harry Truman" Song Video Tribute - YouTube:

idiocracy:

From the fantastic Bearkat

LA, you go too far…

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 03:09:39 -0400

LA, you go too far…

I have fabric dye, NOTHING is safe!!

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 03:00:23 -0400

I have fabric dye, NOTHING is safe!!

From peaceful to bloodthirsty in .02 seconds!

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 03:40:57 -0500

From peaceful to bloodthirsty in .02 seconds!

Photo

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 02:47:48 -0500

Photo

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:59:31 -0500

Etsy purchase from potentially the cutest Irish Tween ever!...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:05:47 -0500

Etsy purchase from potentially the cutest Irish Tween ever! Including bonus UK smarties!!

Wayne’s World - “Dreamweaver” scene IN GERMAN....

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:37:51 -0500

Wayne’s World - “Dreamweaver” scene IN GERMAN. I had no idea how much I needed this until I was given it. THANK YOU INTERNET

Oh Leo

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:29:40 -0500

Oh Leo

Photo

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:48:10 -0500