Breaking Bad : Season 2 : Episode 13 : “ABQ”

Walt pulls Jesse out of his retreat.

The season ends with both Walt’s and Jesse’s hopes for the future falling down around their ears, like aeroplanes out of the sky. Events have conspired to keep Walt out of the lab and classroom, so this episode contains nothing of note. Check back soon!

You can read more about this episode at AMC, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Elements in the credits

I’m not sure why Michael Slovis wasn’t assigned iodine (I), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), sulfur (S), oxygen (O) or vanadium (V).

Breaking Bad : Season 2 : Episode 12: “Phoenix”

Walt shows off the college fund.

As the season nears a close, it looks like Walt and Jesse are going to divide the profits and part ways. Events have conspired to (mostly) keep Walt out of the lab and classroom, so this episode contains nothing of note. Check back soon!

You can read more about this episode at AMC, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Elements in the credits

I’m not sure why Michael Slovis wasn’t assigned iodine (I), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), sulfur (S), oxygen (O) or vanadium (V).

Somehow this got lost in the shuffle of my tv viewing. I had it all recorded on my tivo but wanted to watch the first season before this season….

Anyway another fantastic season of the show and Bryan Cranston definitely deserved his second emmy award for his brilliant work. I just found every episode interesting and fantastic and I loved how they connected it all together with teases of the final few minutes off the last episode. The whole season you were wondering what happened, why is that bear in the pool? Why are there dead bodies? WHAT COULD HAPPEN? I think the whole message was look at how things are connected and the tiniest little thing can end up being a huge problem.

Lets get back to the beginning. I really like how every episode is a slow build yet from the beginning of the season to the end so much has happened. We had three episodes dealing just with Tuco but by the end of the season the show has moved on that none of that really matters.

The Tuco episodes were done masterfully. “Seven-Thirty-Seven” continued to set up where the season 1 finale finished. Tuco is dangerous and he will do basically anything in order to get his money and not go to jail. The second episode of the season that had Jesse and Walt in his desert house was also well done. Any show that can keep its two leads in the same environment for the entire episode and yet  still keep you on the edge of your seat is brilliant. “Grilled” will go down as one of my favorites.

After Tuco the series moves on a bit as Walt and Jesse try to figure out a new way to deal their crystal meth and decide to basically become their own distributors and have their own dealers that report to them. This of course makes Walt fictitious Heisenberg become a bit of an Urban Legend and the name starts getting thrown around in the DEA offices. Plenty of the episodes then deal with their troubles being distributors and not getting the money that they need or dealing with people who have found out about their little side job.

Walt’s cancer goes into remission, at least for now, and he has to think of a way to get the money to his family which opens up a side plot with the sketchy lawyer Saul Goodman. Another side plot has Jesse in a relationship with his co-tennant and landlord Jane. Who after a drug overdose dies causing her father, an air traffic controller, in grief to crash two planes.

That is basically the plot of this season but there are so many other stories. All of the characters become even more developed and you start getting to know them a lot better than you did in the first seasons seven episodes. Skyler has her baby and doesn’t want anything to do with Walt anymore and moves out. Hank ends up getting a better job with the task force which ends up giving him some extra crazy stress after a shooting and explosion in Jaurez.

Once again this show is a chess game and people end up doing things because of others actions. It can be slow but in one sitting so much happens that it doesn’t really matter. It comes down to the character work that Bryan Cranston and the others have. It makes the show so believable especially with such high stakes of drug dealing and murder. It also stays grounded with Walt’s home life and his family. Plenty of times in this season both Jesse and Walt decide that they are done dealing but get roped back in. Either in greed or for other reasons.

The highlight and turning point in the season is “4 Days Out” that has Walt and Jesse in the middle of nowhere cooking as much meth as possible. Walt thinks his cancer has taken a turn for the worse the whole episode and ends up tearing himself apart when he and Jesse end up getting stranded. The two bond and become even closer because of their life threatening experience. At the end though we learn that Walt’s cancer is actually better than they all thought and it changes the tone of the show. His family starts becoming happier and Walt becomes obsessed with working on the house and spending the money he has made.

It is such a hard show to write and talk about but I feel like it is probably going to be one of the most re-watchable. It is entertaining and makes you depressed at the same time. You start really feeling connected to everyone. Also it looks great. Some of the visuals and shots, along with the subtle music really puts the whole show together.

Definitely I would watch the repeats and pick up this show on DVD and I am so unhappy that it took me so long to watch it. This, like Weeds, is candy tv. Once you watch one episode you want another one.

So Donny took it — mirror ball and all! He’s the Dancing With The Stars champ and was said to be “numb”, while Mya, about whom they said the trophy “was hers to lose” on account of her “astonishing dance scores” was reportedly “disappointed”.  Well bravo,  Donny, and my guess is Mya — especially given her stellar work on the dance floor this year — will have many happy days (and performances to come).  Same with Kelly O., who still has the vote (and adoration) of millions.  Now…let’s move into some holiday fare.  With Thanksgiving upon us, everyone’s probably going to be spending lots of time at the table or in front of the TV.  And so now let’s take a trip over to the basic cable realm, where fans of USA’s Burn Notice have good reason to be delighted — the show, starring Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar, has  been picked up for a fourth season.  Which got me thinking about basic cable in general, and how much good stuff is seemingly right under our noses.  And while we spend a great deal of time talking about the premium cable shows like Weeds, Dexter, Nurse Jackie, Entourage, Big Love, Californication etc…today I’d love to know where you all weigh in on some of  basic cable’s original series. Now since there are several of them that people love, I’m just going to throw out a few shows to see how everyone feels about that netherworld between networks and cable. You’ll notice I’m leaving out Breaking Bad, Monk White Collar and others — but that’s just because we’ll be talking about them next week.  So here goes…voice your choice in today’s featured poll and tell us which of these cable original series is your favorite? (and while you’re at it, have a fantastic Thanksgiving!)

1) Mad Men

2) Burn Notice

3) Damages

4) The Closer

Monday, October 13th
Work in the morning at the coffee shop next door to the New York Loft Hostel, which I rather like. It was funny, though, as the coffee shop was playing really mellow ambient music and then all of a sudden started playing this super loud crazy orchestral music, and everyone in the coffee shop was looking around and staring at each other and laughing. It was a cute moment of collective confusion. That’s a good band name! Cute Moments Of Collective Confusion!! Might even be able to do without the Cute… depending on what kind of band you are. ANYHOOT.

That day, I walk a mile to the apartment where the Nurses guys stayed the previous night, and it’s time to go to Cambridge, Connecticut.

The drive is GORGEOUS!

Yay, rainbow! I think John drove.

Aaron attempting to watch “Breaking Bad” on my laptop…… it took forever to buffer, though. FOREVER! They had started watching the previous day, I guess, but they had started right where I’d ended, so I couldn’t watch. I’m dying to finish that show! Ugh!

James was totally sick and dying of consumption! (I don’t even really know what consumption is.)

I think this was at a rest stop or something. Condoms and chewing gum and… diotame bismuth???

Show that evening at T.T. The Bear’s was real awesome. A couple of their old friends showed up, and I guess it was a major surprise!

James had a funny fever dream as we were arriving to the venue, where he was sleeping but knew that we had arrived at the venue, and some guy was grabbing him by the neck and growling, “1979!”… so, I decided to ask the bartender about the year, to see if there was any significance to it, but no dice. I think she mighta thought I was crazy! I got free drink tickets, too, as well as free food, hail yeah! I was actually making money being on tour with those clowns!

Cool show and good vibes… they did a couple of interviews, and I guess one was awesome and one was majorly goofs. We went next door to another venue after they performed, and I had this yummy tofu sandwich from really nice Persian people! Drove to the hotel afterward and it was fucking freezing, so we were running to the hotel room! Fucking cold!

Woke up about a zillion times throughout the night, and Aaron totally took the longest pee of the century. In the morning, he was like, “I dunno if I dreamed this, but, I think I took the longest pee ever last night!” and I’m like, “No… it definitely happened!” because it woke me up!

So, in the past couple weeks, there have been a few “top tv shows of the decade” lists released. The most notable lists include The Hollywood Reporter, Paste Magazine, and The A.V. Club. Basically, here’s how the lists top tens shake down:

Hollywood Reporter:           Paste:                                                A.V. Club:

10. Modern Family              10. Mad Men                          10. The Shield

9. Lost                                9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer     9. Deadwood

8. 24                                  8. Battlestar Galactica             8. Lost

7. 30 Rock                            7. Lost                                  7. The Office (U.K.)

6. Mad Men                         6. The Sopranos                     6. Breaking Bad

5. Damages                          5. The Office (U.K. and U.S.)  5. Mad Men

4. The Shield                        4. The Daily Show                 4. Freaks and Geeks

3. Curb Your Enthusiasm    3. The West Wing                   3. Arrested Development

2. The West Wing                2. The Wire                              2. The Sopranos

1. The Sopranos                   1. Arrested Development         1. The Wire

As always, I’m gonna have to side with the ol’ AV Club on this one. Even more than I like their list, though, I hate the Hollywood Reporter’s. No Wire? No Arrested? No Breaking Bad? Modern Family after half a season? Pretty rough. So this got me thinking, and even though I haven’t seen as many shows as these critics (my most notable unwatched items are probably Mad Men and The West Wing), I threw together my list:

10. Lost: ABC

Guilty pleasure doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about Lost. The writers cheat, trick you, and jerk you around, but damn it’s fun to watch.

9. 30 Rock: NBC

The show wasn’t really on my radar for a while, until I started seeing episodes after watching The Office. Now I’m lucky to cast the end of Jim and Pam’s happy adventures before turning into NBC’s funniest show since Seinfeld.

8. Curb Your Enthusiasm: HBO

Just saw the end of the most recent season. It was pretty funny, but still a bit disappointing after last season’s ending. Having said that, seasons 3 and 6 were about as funny as TV gets.

7. South Park: Comedy Central

This show was always funny, and at times downright brilliant for so many years. It’s a shame that Parker seems to be phoning it in over the past two or three seasons.

6. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: FX

All the aforementioned lists love Damages and The Shield, but I’ve picked another FX show. Two years ago, Sunny would have been in the top 3, but a couple of lackluster seasons have lowered it in my eyes.

5. The Sopranos: HBO

The show was groundbreaking and provided some truly great drama, but I still have a lot of bad things to say about this “masterpiece.” It is certainly the best acting and cinematography I have ever seen on the tube, but the writing miffed me at times, and the ending was terrible in my eyes (not specifically the infamous final scene, but the entire second leg of the final season).

4. Frisky Dingo: Cartoon Network

Stop the Presses! What?!? Most of you have probably never heard of the short-lived, serialized superhero spoof from Adult Swim, but find someone who has, and they’ll probably quote your ear off.

3. Breaking Bad: AMC

While the rest of the world watches Mad Men, I’m eagerly awaiting the next sneak peek of BB. Bryan Cranston’s acting is more than deserving of his two Emmys, and the character arcs over two seasons have left fans drooling for more.

2. Arrested Development: Fox

What more is there to say? This was the funniest, most clever comedy I have ever seen. I’m still finding jokes I’ve never noticed on fourth and fifth viewings. AD was the perfect combo of subtle humor and slapstick. It was brilliantly written, acted, directed, and damn near everything else (marketing comes to mind as a flaw). Quite frankly, this is the show that made me realize TV could be as funny as the movies…

1. The Wire: HBO

… still, I didn’t have much faith in dramas. Then I saw the Wire.

Nuff said.

Breaking Bad : Season 2 : Episode 11: “Mandala”

Walt waits for the deal to end all deals.

Walt and Jesse decide to get out of the distribution business and focus on production, which is significantly safer. Events have conspired to (mostly) keep Walt out of the lab and classroom, so this episode contains nothing of note. Check back soon!

You can read more about this episode at AMC, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Elements in the credits

I’m not sure why Michael Slovis wasn’t assigned iodine (I), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), sulfur (S), oxygen (O) or vanadium (V).

With the sun going down so early  and ‘New Moon’ coming up so soon these days, who has time for TV shows?

I get it… TV is not cool….I don’t even have one or even know what one is, but I do like to take in a good story once in awhile. Who the fuck doesn’t?

Yeah so a couple of years ago I was dating this girl who was really cool at first. We started our courtship in the summer and it was mildy rad. Next thing you know it’s winter I’m hanging at her house 6 nights a week and all she wanna do is eat ice creams and watch VH1.

I’ll admit for a bit I was caught up in ‘Rock of Love’, and also a  show about a ‘Tequila Slut’ that was hitting closer to home than I realized.

Things have changed my friends.

With old favorites like ‘The Office’  and ‘Always Sunny’  jumping sharks it’s little bit harder to get your entertainment on.

However, there are some really decent programs out these days ( my grandma call tv shows programs and so do I)

These are all shows that can be watched on a computer guys so don’t make excuse why not to see the rad.

TRAILER PARK BOYS

Trailer Park Boys flies  under the radar in the U.S. and  sometimes I’m behind the times- so I apologize if i caught the boat too late…

Give this thing a chance cause it just seems to get better and better. It’s shot mockumentary style following 3 trailer bros ( Ricky, Julian and Bubbles) just trying to make things right.

Upon first glance you may think it’s “kinda funny, but stupid”. That’s a  phrase your idiot aunt would say without giving it a chance- so don’t. Get yourself 7 episodes deep and all will become clear. This perhaps might be the best show you’ve ever seen.

I could go on for a day why I know it’s the best, just see for yourself. My favorite character is the  drunken trailer park supervisor- Jim Lahey. Watch this and see why.

Mr. Lahey: Why don’t you get a life Rick? Why don’t ya go to community college like Julian here. Hey, I got a good idea. You could teach, livin’ in a car and growin’ dope 101.
Ricky:  And you can teach how to get drunk, get fired from the police force become a… lousy trailer park supervisor that sucks, hangs around with a fuckin’ idiot that doesn’t wear a shirt and looks like a dick but thinks he looks good… 101.

You can get most episodes here http://quicksilverscreen.com/videos?c=192&pt=thumbs&o=new&page=2

BREAKING BAD
 

Definetly  the best show to watch. This is the kind of show that goes by too fast and leaves you wanting more…. I’m actually mad when each episode is over because I’ve got a whole week to go before the next.

If you haven’t seen it yet you’ve got a good this going cause you can marathon those  first 3 seasons   and get your mind blown with some edge of your seat situations. You gotta start from the get go or you’re an idiot.- watch this tiny recap and decide if its for you.http://quicksilverscreen.com/videos?c=906

The new season starts in february or something so catch up un this and make this a november to remember.

BORED TO DEATH

You don’t need hbo to watch this but it helps. Schwartzman, Galafinakis and Ted Dancing star in this nice looking little program about secret detectives and getting high. The first seas is only like 6 episodes so you could turn this fucker out in the better part of an afternoon.

http://ipb.quicksilverscreen.com/index.php?showtopic=170190&hl=bored

It’s almost too easy to look cool in a fedora, but lately you really only see them worn ironically on the heads of unbathed hipsters listening to the newest album by ”The Pussy Farts” in a grimy coffee shop complaining about how they totally sold out when they did a full track of auto-tuned queefing. Honestly, it’s nice to see a more beefy gentleman in a fedora and Batista has dirty hipsters to thank for allowing his style to look fresh. It’s true that Batista doesn’t always get the best storylines on Dexter (admit it: all we really care about is watching Dexter chop up killers and replaying that first scene where Lundy explained his lunch routine), but what he lacks in character development he makes up for in fedora. I think part of the appeal is how odd of a costume choice it is to put a Cuban in a fedora, and how surprisingly well it works. Witness now the start of a new movie cliché: the chunky Cuban detective wearing a fedora.

This entry isn’t so much about the type of hat as it about how it’s worn. Baseball caps complement Jerry Ferrara’s head like a paper bag over Steve Buscemi’s. Turtle also gets points for variety: I feel like the guy’s probably wearing a different hat every episode. I’d check, but that means I have to rewatch the more recent (see: terrible) seasons of the show. Lately he’s been trying out the hatless look, but it’s a lot like finding out your son is gay: you can’t really get angry about it and it’s not exactly a bad thing but there’s no way you’re going to encourage it. Keep the hat on, Turtle. It’s already hard enough to stomach that Meadow Soprano is dating you both on- and off-screen. You have to hand it to him though: the baseball cap fits so well that it’s almost wearing him (which is more likely considering the hats are probably more intelligent than the character.) Congrats, Turtle. You’ve redeemed baseball caps for society.

He’s the king of the world! I can’t honestly remember if Christian Bale ever donned one of these caps in that shitty musical, but Vondas’ looks better in it anyway. Bale was at his best with a raincoat, an axe, and Huey Lewis playing in the background. Seriously, though… it’s no wonder Vondas is The Greek’s personal liaison for dealing with the shady business of the Baltimore drug world: it’s such a casual look, but it’s also very empowering and controlling. This ever-calm Greek absolutely towers over everyone else in the room with this hat. I’ve got no doubts that this cap has magical abilities bestowed upon it by the paperboys who wore them in the 20’s: you want to listen to everything the wearer has to say. When Vondas is sitting on a park bench staring off into the cold distance and talking business, I forget I’m watching The Wire and start formulating love letters in my head until I remember what I’m watching and start getting depressed about how much Baltimore sucks. [Honorable mention goes to the hat that The Greek wears.]

What would we do without Seinfeld? Sure, it doesn’t beat the puffy shirt but then again, what can? I still maintain that this is a great idea for a hat. I mean, it’s clearly not a great idea for a hat, but it’s still a great idea for a hat. I’m almost disappointed that hipsters haven’t taken advantage of this opportunity for ironic hats. Expect them to switch from fedoras to urban sombreros within the next year. I feel like there must have been a handful of ideas for what ridiculous clothing item Elaine would come up with to put on the cover of the J. Peterman catalague, but as soon as they conjured up the urban sombrero it was over. It’s surely not the greatest contribution Seinfeld has given us (that would have to be The Contest) but the fact that the phrase “urban sombrero” now exists in the pop-culture lexicon gets me warm and fuzzy inside. Plus, this episode gave us Kramer fighting little kids in a karate class.

Back when Malcolm in the Middle was still on, nobody in their right mind considered Bryan Cranston a “badass.” Then came Breaking Bad, and we were forced to adjust. “What? Frankie Muniz’s goofy dad is playing a cancer-riddled meth dealer?” Walter White practically re-wrote the definition of “badass.” Who else could convince you to use that word to describe a man stumbling out of an RV wearing whitie-tighties in the middle of the desert? When the cancer got worse we watched him shave his head, and a tiny little footnote was added to the definition. And then he put on the bowler cap - Merriam-Webster had to put out a new edition. Bald, bowler cap, glasses, trench-coat – Bryan Cranston was no longer Walter White, nor was he “Heisenberg” – he became the posterboy for man-boners everywhere. This is undeniably the coolest any man over 50 years-old has ever looked. Look at that fucking hat.

Breaking Bad : Season 2 : Episode 10: “Over”

Walt investigates the water heater.

With a little down-time, Walt embarks on some home improvement and Worst Role Model projects. In this post, I’ll be talking about safety matches.

You can read more about this episode at AMC, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

When Walt is extolling the virtues of the new water heater to Walt Jr, he says that it’s “117,000 BTUs.” The British thermal unit is an older unit of energy that has now been effectively replaced by the joule.

When Walt was walking away from the would-be-meth-cooker’s abandoned equipment, I was certain that he’d mutter “amateur” under his breath.

Phosphorous in matches

Our uninformed cooks are buying matches for a source of red phosphorous, which is required in the red, white and blue process to convert (pseudo)ephedrine to methamphetamine. Walt points out that they need the striker strips rather than the match heads – “strike-anywhere” matches do contain phosphorous, but the safety matches that are more or less ubiquitous these days do not. The dangerous components are segregated into the strips and heads, which means that matches cannot ignite by accident (e.g. on cowboy stubble).

Matches are (intentionally) ignited through friction – dragging the head against a rough surface generates enough heat to convert some red phosphorous (in the striker strip) into highly reactive white phosphorous, which then ignites upon contact with the air. This additional heat is enough to decompose an oxidising agent in the match head (usually potassium chlorate), releasing oxygen. The oxygen-rich atmosphere around the match head plus the heat from the white phosphorous are enough to ignite the main component (sulfur), which burns for long enough to set the wooden matchstick alight. The characteristic smell of a burning match is caused by sulfur dioxide, with perhaps a dash of carbon (soot) and phosphorous pentoxide.

Elements in the credits

I’m not sure why Michael Slovis wasn’t assigned iodine (I), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), sulfur (S), oxygen (O) or vanadium (V).

In the last few years I’ve grown more and more appreciative of television – helped chiefly by its maturation as a storytelling platform. Witness “The Wire,” best viewed as a five-part novel on a city’s life and conflicts, told with such character depth and intertwined storylines it could give some of the great Russians a run for their money. Or “Deadwood,” which creates a community amongst disjointed individuals who realize they don’t fit in anywhere else; or “Breaking Bad,” arguably the next big step in television storytelling by painting a chemistry teacher/drug dealer’s path to Hell (the special kind reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theater).

So I have a great deal of interest in the narrative of television writing, but it’s not something I can see myself placing much focus on in this blog as books are our first focus (though some shows, like “Dexter,” are in the queue for proper analysis). There are many people who do make this their focus though, and a new source for such study has popped up in Tarah Scalzo’s “TV Girl.” Tarah, a fellow alumni of the Daily Cardinal’s arts columnist fraternity as the author of “The Taraminator” movie column in 2006-2007, has turned her attention to TV shows in a blog that adheres to the tagline “Television is literature.”

It’s a fairly brief affair so far with only four posts – three on Christmas episodes (part of a Top 10 list I assume) and one on the decline of “House” as a TV show (which I wholeheartedly agree with) – but it’s off to a good start. The writing reflects the crucial entertainment blogger attribute of both knowing and caring about your subject matter, and the writing is engaging without the semi-frequent dips of pretension the Onion’s A.V. Club is guilty of.

So if you’re a professional TV viewer (thanks to my Portland drinking partner Kevin for that phrase) I endorse paying attention to it in upcoming months. There’s always more than one way to tell a story after all.

Breaking Bad, a premiada série (vencedora do Emmy de Melhor Ator Dramático para Bryan Cranston em 2008 e 2009) do canal americano AMC, terminou sua segunda temporada em maio e deve retornar apenas em março do ano que vem. Porém o canal já começou a divulgação de spots promocionais. Confira o primeiro abaixo:

Alguém duvida que será uma terceira temporada explosiva?

Well the good news is… things aren’t getting any worse. Not that there was much scope for the spec script market to fall any more. Universal and Sony have used up their development budgets for this year, or had it taken away form them The other studios aren’t faring much better. So far this year, the proportion of scripts that have gone out wide and sold, hovers at around 1%. That’s about the same figure during the writers strike. Dire news, but at least it’s honest.

Although the persistent economic storm clouds are gradually starting to  lift, with major companies beginning to recapitalize, things should turn in the new year. Progress is likely to be slow as we still face the possibility of a double dip in the economic recovery. You know things are bad when the top tenpercentaries are selling single single digit numbers of projects. Scripts are still being circulated so that writers can display their wares. Make sure you’re one of them and get as many query letters out there as possible, hopefully even a few reads. We still need to market ourselves and network like crazy.

The screenwriting landscape has changed dramatically since the WGA strike of 2008. Television networks are relying on reality tv shows despite audience drops of around 20%. Reality tv shows can cost less than half that of scripted dramas, so are highly profitable. Networks have learnt to live without us. Where major shows used to hire 10-12 writers, the number has dropped by around 30 -40%. The number of pilots commissioned by the television networks has fallen by a similar amount. The good news is that the best television writing around these days is in cable television. Ratings of scripted cable shows have improved by around 20 -30%. Look at the Emmys, with shows like “Mad Men”, “Breaking Bad”, “Weeds” and “Hung”. Go Showtime, HBO and AMC. You rock!

The feature business is murkier. Producers are finding it tougher to get projects off the ground in light of costs increasing by around 10% per year. Many studio films are unprofitable and are considered advertisements for DVD sales and merchandising, both of which faced decreasing sales in the current economic climate.  Old school mentality dictated that you were only as successful as your last project. This adage no longer holds true. Studios are increasingly hedging their bets with franchises, sequels and comics. The beleaguered MGM studio is likely to be auctioned off shortly. In the absence of many serious buyers, it may not survive, given that it’s library is considered old and unlucrative. The worst case scenario would be one less buyer and one less lion roaring.

It has been argued that in 2009, it was easier to get a $200 million plus project like “Star Trek” greenlit than a $10 million indie. The “specialty” film business, which was once swallowed up by the studios, have still not returned in vogue. Studio balance sheets show that the more you spend on a movie, the more money it earns to justify their budgets. Studios aren’t even sure where to  spend their P & A dollars anymore. Given the declining ratings, traditional television advertising isn’t as effective as it once was. Virals and other internet campaigns are gradually being rolled out as audiences are spending more time on the internet.

However, we need this destruction to allow for new creation. How biblical! Old debt based business models need to altered to suit the new streamlined modern age. Can you believe that shows celebrating their 100th episode are really celebrating when they break even financially? How could that be sustainable? You gotta hand it to “The Simpsons” who are just recently starting to post profits. There’s creative accounting for you.

Still, the world will always need storytellers; that means us. However, the media in which we operate will change. As writers, we need to diversify our outlets. Consider writing for downloadable or streamed radio plays, webisodes, audio books on CD, mobile phone content. Nobody has figured out a viable business model for these formats, but they will in time. Necessity is the mother of invention, so we too must evolve. New foliage will sprout in the burnt out forest and we’ll be there to nurture it.

Mucho hemos estado esperando en España para tener una reunión de estas características, y por fin parece que nuestras suplicas se han cumplido. Entre los días 19 y 22 de noviembre arranca en Madrid lo que se ha llamado el “I Festival de Series Madrid 09”.

Digital + junto a Canal + y mucho de los canales de pago (AXN, Calle 13, FOX, Paramount Comedy, Sci fi y TNT) son los encargados de poner en marcha este festival que tendrá lugar en el Circulo de Bellas Artes de Madrid (calle Alcalá 42).

Con el lema “loco por las series” nace este festival, cuyo fin es crear un espacio de encuentro con lo mejor de la pequeña pantalla. Nace como referente para futuros certámenes de público general y más profesional en este sector concreto. Entre las actividades que se llevaran a cabo destacan el visionado de series internacional, talleres, debates, mesas redondas, invitados nacionales e internacionales de series televisivas. Todo ello amenizado con espacios dedicados y decorados de series, así como concursos y premios, y una tienda especializada donde adquirir objetos de tus series favoritas.

Entre las series de estreno que podremos ver estos cuatro días destacan “V”, “Trauma”, “Warehouse 13” o la nueva serie de Courteney Cox (Mónica en “Friends”) “Courgan Town”. Pero también contaremos con las nuevas temporadas de “Mad Men” (3º), “True Blood” o en español Sangre Fresca (2º), “Breaking Bad” (2º), “The Closer” (5º), “Heroes” (4º), “Being Erica” (2º) o “Los Tudor” (3º). Completaran el espectáculo de producciones, o maratones de series como “The Beast” (La bestia) o la nueva serie estrella “Flash Forward”.

No sé cómo les saldrá este primer festival dedicado al mundo de las series, pero siendo como soy un gran aficionado a ello, al menos me dejare caer por este emblemático lugar que seguro que tiene mucho que percibir. ¿Alguien más se anima?

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For more information call Michelle Luna at (505)212-7440

In Karen Lury’s Interpreting Television, she states that television is “often seen and not heard…In bars, cafés, urinals, in shopping malls and on large screens in city centers, television is often visible without being audible (although it can be both)” (Lury, 96).  Can television’s images stand on their own though?  And if so, what exactly is sound’s role in television?

In both the pilot episode of Mad Men and in Breaking Bad’s episode “Peekaboo,” sound is absolutely necessary and is depicted in very different, yet distinct ways that should be examined.  In “Peekaboo” the episode opens with Jesse intently watching a house-sized beetle crawl around on the sidewalk.  Jesse goes to far as to let the beetle crawl on his hand, and consequently the viewer is subject to listening to all of the insect’s legs clanking about as it moves from one finger to the next.  However, when one of Jesse’s drug dealers comes by, the dealer squishes it the making a disgusting squirting noise as he drags the bug’s debris across the sidewalk.  This sound is echoed later on in the episode when the addict husband is squished like a bug as his wife drops the ATM machine onto him.  Thus, by having such nauseating sound effects, the visceral impact is able to “generate an audible proximity…Sound’s ability to suggest touch can make the programme thrilling in a way that visual spectacle alone might not: for while we can see the hyenas eating, we will ‘feel’ the sound of a slurp or a squelch in a much more intimate manner” (Lury, 82).  Thus, by having such sound effects in Breaking Bad we are able to foster a closer relationship with Jesse, for even though the sounds might make us cringe they also make us feel like we too experienced the same events.

In Mad Men sound is portrayed very differently, for the chosen musical ballads depict the complexities in the characters’ personalities.  For example in the closing scene of the pilot episode, Don Draper comes home to his wife and child.  While sitting on the edge of his child’s bed with tears in his eyes, one can see how empty this character really feels.  His melancholic actions are put to the sound of a romantic show tune ballad in which the singer boldly proclaims that he has, “often walked on this street before, but the pavement has always stayed beneath my feet before.”  Thus, the song that is pregnant with fervently felt emotions contrasts to Don Draper’s character who believes love is a mere product of the ad world created and used to sell nylons to women.  As a result, the irony in the music portrays Draper’s jaded character as one that has everything by societal standards, yet has nothing by his own.

Thus, sound is used very differently in these two episodes, but in both instances sound fosters a closer relationship between the characters and viewers.

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“Albuquerque is the place to film these days. Both Breaking Bad and In Plain Sight are set in and filmed here, while Crash the series is set in L.A., but filmed here. Whiter image was in the VIP Gift bags for the First Annual Albuquerque Film Festival where Bryan Cranston presented Dennis Hopper with a Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Andre West-Harrision, Promotional Partner.

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Breaking Bad is one of AMC’s leading shows.  Breaking Bad and the cast are the winners of 8 Emmys, 1 Satellite Award, 3 Writers Guild Awards, 3 Television Critic Association Awards, and many others.  This stellar drama is about a high school chemistry teacher who suffers from a “mid-life crisis” and becomes a criminal.  Filmed in New Mexico, Breaking Bad has become an instant classic.

Featured on the Starz Network, Crash picks up where the 2004 movie left off.  The show tells the story of racial tensions in Los Angeles, but it is filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The cast includes Dennis Hopper, Moran Atias, and Ross McCale among other big names.

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• Sunday nights Mad Men season 3 finale was amazing.  Year after year this show continues to exceed my expectations by miles as well as be the deepest, best written show on television.  If you have not given this show a chance you need to start at season one now!
• I gave several news shows a shot this season and needless to say they disappointed.  I was really hoping that  Community, Bored To Death, and The Cleveland Show would be better but they are simply bad.
• Lucky for me Breaking Bad starts season 3 in March.
• This game needs to be taken away from me…..it is way too addicting, this game was a little bit of a let down sequel.
• The Prisoner (yes another AMC show) starts this coming Sunday, I will give it a shot but from the previews I am cautious.
• The Venture Brothers season 4 has been pretty solid so far, glad to have it back.

This was the first time I’ve watched Mad Men. Well, actually, the first time I’ve watched an episode from beginning to end. I know… that makes me a loser. And now I wish I had watched from the get-go. But all the good stuff happens in the finale anyways. If you’ve ever wanted to start your own business, this episode is great inspiration.

I also love Breaking Bad, which is also on AMC.

Cuando a la gente se le dice que padece un cáncer terminal de pulmón suele pasar por una serie de estados de ánimo que van desde la negación, la depresión, rebelión, resignación, aceptación… Walter White, un humilde profesor de química de secundaria, pasó de todo esto y pensó en como asegurar la precaria economía familiar cuando él faltase, y no se le ocurrió una forma mejor de hacerlo que montar un laboratorio clandestino de metanfetaminas con uno de sus alumnos.

Ese es el planteamiento inicial de Breaking Bad, una serie que aúna a la perfección las dosis suficientes de humor negro, drama, personajes bien construidos y comedia para componer una de las mejores series de la actualidad. Tal vez su gran acierto es que se mueve por todos esos géneros sin definirse o limitarse a uno solo de ellos, empieza pareciendo una comedia de situación, pero pronto se muestra como un drama brutal y descarnado sobre el mundo de la drogadicción.

De momento hay dos temporadas emitidas, de las cuales la primera consta solo de 7 episodios, por lo que no hay ninguna escusa para no probar y engancharse. Totalmente recomendable.

In the episode “Peekaboo” of the series Breaking Bad, the director uses camera angles and quick cuts to embody the tension between stillness and action in Jesse’s storyline. From the beginning of the episode, Jesse is apprehensively waiting for a meeting that he knows will set a chain of events into motion. He starts on a sketchy street corner distractedly playing with a bug, awaiting his first assignment that requires real force. A stark change from the back and forth almost conversational and intimate angles used when Jesse is interacting with the bug, the camera gets progressively shakier as Jesse is told what to do (“these people need to get got”). In the next “beat”, Jesse gets prepared for his encounter; in his car, he gets psyched up, ready for action. The camera cuts quickly, mimicking Jesse’s racing mind or heart perhaps, from bong to loaded gun to his eyes, jumping instead of focusing clearly on any one task. He races up to the house and bangs on the door, and there’s a sense of awkward potential energy that can’t be released — no one answers and Jesse’s prep seems to have been in vain. It’s even comedic as the postal worker foils his bad-ass-attitude by commenting on the nice weather or when his pent up energy causes him to swear loudly as he trips in the dark upon breaking in to the house. The images and angles for the rest of his story arc continue to embody this nervous energy of waiting for the explosion, as Jesse plays with the little boy always with half a mind as to when his parents will arrive, or even after they have made their entrance and promised him the money as they nervously fidget around the ATM. Jesse’s story is filled with the awkward and discomfiting tension that, though all is still, an explosion of action could come at any moment. Peekaboo!

Categoría: Serie

Calificación: 4 Estrellas

Intérpretes: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn…

Dirección: Vince Gillian

Argumento: Bryan Cranston ( lo recordaréis por su papel en Malcom in the Middle) encarna a Walter White, un profesor de química de un instituto  de Alburquerque con dificultades económicas con un hijo con parálisis cerebral y su mujer embarazada, al que le diagnostican un cáncer de pulmón terminal, decide ponerse a ganar dinero para que su família pueda seguir subsistiendo después de su muerte. Así, un dia se reencuentra con Jesse Pinkman, un ex-alumno de su instituto que ejerce como “cocinero” y “camello” de metanfetamina y se propone asociarse con él  para fabricar y distribuir ese ”cristal” que tan bien se vende, hecho que le traerá más de una aventura y algún que otro problema con la ley.

Un tráiler, está en inglés pero contiene magníficas escenas:

This episode of Breaking Bad was the first time I have ever seen the show.  After my viewing it it is very apparent that the great lengths are taken to visually distinguish the world of Walt’s legitimate life and the secondary world that he occupies with Jesse.  I don’t know if the differences are always as pronounced as the crack den-esque house allowed them to be.

Walt’s legitimate world is much brighter, there is more use of open space and daylight.  These scenes took place in middle to upper class areas, be it a neighborhood school or restaurant.  The camera movements in the legitimate world were much smoother compared to the world of crime.  There were for fewer hand held shots.  Most of the time the camera slowly rotated in an arc around the focal characters of the scene.  I noticed that the camera was uncomfortably close to Walt and his son in the car scene.

The gritty world of Jesse’s story had a completely different quality.  In juxtaposition to the bright natural daylight of the legitimate world, Jesse’s story was bathed in a greenish yellow glow.  The effect was so prominant that it reminded me of the visual difference between the real world and the digital world in The Matrix.  The smooth movements of the camera have become raw jerky hand held movements in this part of the show.  I found the two altered state effects that Jesse experiences to way to cheesy, first being the jump cuts as he is using in the car, and the second being the focus shifting blurryness when he was knocked out.

I look forward to watching the rest of Breaking bad and seeing if these two highly stylized worlds mix if they do at all when Jesse and Walt have scenes together.  I wonder if as the show progresses the styles will reverse as Walt embraces his “dark side” and as Jesse tries to become a good person.

This was the first time I’ve ever watched Mad Men (I know, I’m behind the curve), so I was curious to see what all the hype was about. And after watching the pilot episode, I do understand why the show is so enormously popular. As the Atlantic Monthly article mentions, Mad Men is highly stylized, from the costumes to the settings, even down to the way the characters speak. It is clear from only a few minutes of watching, that every aspect of the show is very carefully thought out and executed to the point where the whole look and feel of it seems closer to watching a film than the average television drama. I understand now why so many people are calling shows like Mad Men and the Sopranos “Megamovies” rather than TV series. These shows have the production value of a high budget film, from the way they are shot to time and consideration that goes into the art direction.

Furthermore, the concept of the show is very thought provoking. I was at first shocked by the blatant sexism in the show’s characters, which seems exaggerated to the point where the writers are purposely testing our modern day conceptions of political correctness. I found myself getting angry at all of the characters for being so narrow minded, especially Don Draper, who I thought originally I was supposed to empathize with. When I saw that he had a wife and kids at the end (great twist to get us to want to watch the next episode), all of my notions that he was simply a well off bachelor were pulled out from under me. I then wanted to empathize with the new secretary character, but when she ends up being just as passive and accepting of women’s roles as the rest of the men in the office (making a pass at Draper and accepting the younger advertising exec into her room late at night), I really didn’t know where my sympathies would lie. The only female character that was at all empowered in the show was the Jewish department store owner, who finally gave me some satisfaction when she spoke to Draper on an equal level. I had the sudden urge to shake all of the other female characters and say, “Stop letting men treat you this way!” (surprised by my sudden burst of feminist rage).

However, I then realized that I felt frustrated for a reason. This is what women’s roles were, and to an extent, still are in much of the business world today. The episode stuck with me long after watching and I am still thinking about my strong reaction. I suppose this is why so many people keep coming back to Mad Men for more.

I also have never watched Breaking Bad. However, I had trouble getting into the plot of the show. I think that has something to do with the fact that I didn’t start with the first episode, a testament to the importance of watching this type of show in order, from beginning to end. Unlike sitcoms, viewers cannot come in and out of “megamovies,” without missing essential plot points, just as one cannot miss entire pieces of feature films. As a result, I had difficulty sympathizing with the characters, feeling that I didn’t really know them. I also found the exaggerated camera angles and colors in the show to be distracting from what was going on. Even the characters themselves, were highly exaggerated almost to the point of being unrealistic, which took me out of the show (like the two meth addicts). Maybe this would change if I watched from the beginning…