“Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001″

December 3rd, 2009

After writing rather lengthy analysis of the other three NBC comedies, all of which tapped into the emotional recesses of their characters in uncomfortable or telling fashions, it’s refreshing to get to 30 Rock, which tried to do absolutely none of those things.

While it wasn’t an all-time classic, “Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001″ was a prime example of what happens when you just let Liz Lemon run free. The episode follows a paper thin plot, rarely taking a story to any unexpected or surprising place, but Tina Fey is so inherently in control of this character that she is able to depict Liz’s downward spiral into a Jekyll/Hyde split persona in a way that makes you laugh so hard you forget just how pointless it all is.

It becomes a series of cleverly executed sight gags at a certain point in the episode, demonstrating that even the simplest of stories (even when that story surrounds an element of the show which could be complicated) can elicit laughs within the universe Fey has created here.

Effectively doing their own take on the Conan O’Brien experience (what happens when you take a comedy writer and give them a talk show despite a complete lack of on-camera experience?), Dealbreakers was never going to get off the ground. It was a project doomed for failure because the show has long given up any pretence of being about a sketch comedy show primarily so it could branch out and tell different types of stories without feeling tied down. To tie the show down to another storyline, and divide Liz’s attention even further, simply wouldn’t be sustainable. As such, the episode changes the game by turning Dealbreakers from a pet project for Jack to be able to work with Liz on helping her build a brand into a project on which the company’s federal bailout money depends.

And immediately, the storyline goes from a chance to see Liz Lemon fail admirably to a storyline about Liz Lemon failing horribly, which might be a little less subtle but offered some dynamite comic setpieces. The highlight of course is Performer Liz trying to film the opening credits for the show, and resulting in some hilarious physical comedy from Fey. She might claim at some points not to be an actress, but her complete failure to smile, wave, or be act in any reasonable fashion was really fun to watch. The show wasn’t done of course, moving onto their HD camera gag which was similarly simple but well executed. Liz became hideous, Pete became an old man, Kenneth was a muppet (which was a wonderful tie-in with “Apollo, Apollo”) and Jack became a younger version of Alec Baldwin (which appeared to be a clip from a movie, although I couldn’t tell you which one). In short, the sequence demonstrated how darn clever this show can be, and in a way that made me laugh quite a bit.

In the end, the storyline really didn’t go anywhere, but that’s sort of the point: Liz isn’t meant to go anywhere, so the idea of the opening segment appearing on TVs during soap operas is enough to satisfy her desire for stardom (she will, after all, be on TV). The storyline just limited itself to the basics, knowingly turning Liz into Jenna by revealing that hidden Performer that exists in every actor. The bits ranged in quality, from the solid (the Jekyll/Hyde mirror sequence) to the weak (the crying bit was a bit simple, didn’t really do much for me), but it ended up delivering enough laughs to average everything out.

I have to give them credit, though, for following through on Tracy’s daughter. Jack wanting children some day is something that they can easily put on the backburner and yet have stick around as part of Jack’s long-term goals, but Tracy’s short attention span made it likely the show could just cast it aside. Instead, we get Tracy’s ill-advised attempt to become an EGOT (earning an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony), which works because he has a clear purpose of what he’s trying to accomplish. No, the song doesn’t pay off as it should (although it was a marvelous sonic catastrophe in the brief glimpse we got of it), but Tracy Jordan is just a fun character to watch as he fumbles his way from one goal to another, and eventually tries to turn them into the same goal in order to get what he wants. Tracy wasn’t aimless here, handcuffing Liz to a bookshelf and writing that song for reasons that went beyond boredom or ADD. I was pleased with this, and hope it continues.

And as for Frank turning into Liz, it was just fun: nothing complex, nothing remotely philosophical, just a visual/emotional representation of how certain jobs transform people. Freidlander sold the bit well, so what more could you ask?

Cultural Observations

• As per usual, Tracy’s best jokes are those where he says something, says “Just Kidding,” and then reveals that in reality the truth is just as ridiculous as his joke. Here, we have his insinuation that he knows Philip Michael Thomas from the Black People meetings, followed by “Nawww,” follow by “he’s not invited.” Genius.
• I think we’re overdoing Dr. Spaceman – even thought he’s not stopped being funny, it doesn’t feel as much like an event anymore, X-rated cartoons sent to the New England Journal of Medicine or no X-Rated cartoons.
• I feel the same about Will Arnett’s Devin Banks, although the FEMA note on the flowers was a great gag.
• Whoopi Goldberg continues to prove she’s quite funny in small doses.
• New baby name for future reference: Chewbaqueena.

David Mitchell has just been voted number 2 in Heat Magazine’s annual Weird Crushes Poll.  Yay!

To celebrate, listen to him sing A Whiter Shade of Pale to the tune of the theme song from The Muppet Show.

Christmas is coming!

(Okay, I cannot write or say those words without seguing into the little song from the Muppet Christmas movie–you know, the one with John Denver—so bear with me while I do that real quick.)

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat! Please put a penny in the old man’s hat. If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do. If you haven’t got a ha’penny, then God bless you!

Okay, thanks for indulging me.

So let me get to the real point of this blog entry. Christmas, indeed, is coming, and there are all these Christmas-type activities that I want to do with my three-year-old. But I just don’t have the energy for them. The spirit is willing, but the body, not so much. My mother-in-law has graciously volunteered to take my son to have breakast with Santa at a local bookstore in a couple of weeks, and for that, I am very grateful. But there are all these other things that we could do, but part of me just feels too tired to even attempt them. I could take him to a huge tree-lighting ceremony, complete with country music stars and visits with Santa, tomorrow evening at a local college…but wow, the thought of parking and walking to the event alone makes me want to lie down. And there’s a Christmas parade downtown on Friday night, but oh, the logistics. Oh, the parking issues. Oh, the traffic.

And then there are the Christmas activities that would be very cool…but they cost too darn much. Unless I land some unexpected and hugely lucrative assignment in the next week or so, I just don’t think I can justify taking my preschooler to an hour-long gingerbread house-decorating workshop for $45 or $60. He’s likely to be enthusiastic for about five minutes, and then he’ll just start eating all the candy. I can buy a few bags of candy or a gingerbread house kit at Target or Publix for about $10, and he’d be just as happy. But there’s this weird little part of me that thinks, wistfully, “Oh, but it would be such a nice Mommy-Son bonding thing to do for Christmas.” Yeah, I’m a sucker. Luckily, I’m a sucker who knows she can’t justify the cost, at least this year.

So I’m trying to talk myself into recognizing that we have plenty of time ahead of us to do fun, warm-and-fuzzy holiday-memory-building activities together. I don’t have to cram it all in this year. My son is likely to be thrilled by just making Christmas cookies with his grandmother and picking out a few new ornaments with me at Pier One and Ten Thousand Villages. He’d be happy to watch the “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” special on TV with me. We don’t have to do all the big fancy stuff to have meaningful holiday experiences. Isn’t that why I’m instituting the weekly lighting of the Advent candle on our family Advent wreath every Sunday? That’s not big and fancy, but it IS meaningful. And my son does seem to get it.

And I know that, too, I really do. I’m just trying to remind myself.

Impossible de ne pas vous faire profiter de ce petit bijou, déniché par Vianey.

Je vous parlerai un autre jour de mon amour pour Queen, mais là y’à urgence, je peux pas être tout seul à me poiler.

mammaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!!

but being a massive muppet fan makes this a total – warm, happy feeling video

and for further muppetastic enjoyment…

Today I learned…

…that most Muppets are left handed. This apparently is because right handed puppeteers use their strong hand to control the muppet’s head, leaving their left hand to control the arms.
This viral version of Bohemian Rhapsody shows this perfectly with lots of left handed muppet rocking out.

Aaminin ko, napakanta ako dito.

Legendarno…

Due miti in un colpo solo, e pure in HD 1080p

Wishing everyone a safe, happy, food, friends & family filled day of thanks!

Bohemian Rhapsody - Muppets

Muppets são Rock’n’Roll!

Video de Bohemian Rhapsody por eles, aqui.

Vale a pena, é muuito bom!

Adoro a parte do Mama! Mamaaaa! Hahahaha!

Para aqueles que, como eu, tem saudades dos programas antigos de televisão. Aqueles programas que víamos quando éramos criança e não existiam DBZ (Dragon Ball Z), Digimon e outros lixos modernos, postei a abertura em português do MUPPET SHOW.

Esse programa foi criado na década de 70 e estreou em 1975. Foi um sucesso mundial.

Por uma TV mais educativa e menos apelativa.

NAÕ SEJA UM INCOMPETENTE!

Genius, genius, genius

I går hadde jeg framlegg/foredrag om mitt glsm-forskningsprosjekt. Da jeg var i glsmpraksis på Kurland barneskole valgte jeg å spørre alle 2.klassingen om hvilken strategi de brukte da de regnet. Rapporten jeg skrev etter praksis ble da grunnlaget for framlegget mitt. Legger ut powerpointen jeg brukte her, så kan du ta en kikk hvis du har lyst. Presentasjon,tellestrategier
Valgte å finne ut elevers tellestrategier i subtraksjon fordi jeg hadde lyst til å forske på noe matematikkrelatert, fordi jeg hadde lyst til å finne ut hva som foregikk oppe i elevenes hoder og fordi er totalt mattegal Tihi. Se videoen under så får du et inntrykk av hvordan jeg har det.

So, twitter is ablaze this morning with everyone posting links to this YouTube clip of the Muppets cover of  Queen’s classic, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

I have to profess, I absolutely love this – I’d love to see them remake an alternate version with a cameo from Brian and Roger heh!

Mammmmmmmaaaaaaaaa….. Yooohoooo?

Whilst on the subject of Bohemian Rhapsody, the ever knowledgable @ianvisits on twitter has just shared ‘Titanium Rhapsody’ – a wonderful Megaman 7 parody which I think is well worth a watch. I love all things geeky, and so I hope that he won’t mind me adding this to my blog and sharing it with ya’ll

It’s been doing the rounds on Twitter, but if you haven’t seen it yet…

This morning, The Muppets released a high definition viral parody of Queen’s classic song “Bohemian Rhapsody“. The video, which features over 40 Muppet characters, coincides with the release of Queen’s new album. It is not a complete cover but covers the basics and it’s very classy. It is pretty funny and you should probably watch it. The video is after the jump:

I first saw Jim Henson’s experimental art film “Time Piece” in 2001, during the first (and only) Muppet convention in Santa Monica. (MuppetFest was awesome, so shut it!)

Started as a personal project, Henson would go on to storyboard, write, direct and star in the film starting in the spring of 1964. It premiered in May 1965 at the Museum of Modern Art, and was even nominated for an Academy Award in the category of “Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects” in 1966.

Since 2001, I’ve tried to track down the film online. Finally, someone put it on YouTube. Awesome.

So here it is, Jim Henson’s “Time Piece” in all its jazzy glory. You can totally see how it would go on to influence some of the shorts from “Sesame Street” years later.

Be sure to keep an eye out for brief cameos from Frank Oz (with a full head of hair) as a messenger boy, Muppet designer Don Sahlin as a stand-up comic, and head Muppet writer Jerry Juhl as a bartender.

When you’re done, check out this short “behind the scenes” segment on the making of “Time Piece.”

Help,

-Shady

Had this conversation one evening. It was good for a laugh. But I’m not actually evil, I’m just not.

The title for this one is a Yoda quote that works equally as well whether you are Luke Skywalker in the swamps of Dagoba drawing your glock on a muppet, or in a relationship with someone you care about. Neither situation calls for weapons.

Sorry this one’s all thinky…next comic will either be about zombies, or making fun of religion. Maybe both! Promise. – leebert

away put your weapons