youthlarge ([info]youthlarge) wrote,
@ 2004-07-19 13:20:00
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pre-wedding bitch fest
i have a cold sore underneath my nose which kind of looks like a red-hued hitler 'stache. not good.

i have a large red zit above my right eyebrow. not to sound vain, but i never get zits. somehow the gods of adolescence spared me from acne (perhaps to offset the amount of angst they gave me?) but i'm pulling a rudolph right now.

i've been having a reoccurring migraine headache. i had to sleep on the couch last night with the a/c air. it was pounding like a kodo drummer. it's been coming back in waves today, not as severely, thank goodness.

i hope saturday goes well. i'm losing a lot of sleep over this.

oh, and how full of suck was last night's Six Feet Under episode?

p.s. the subject line is an unintentional obtuse nod to postpolvesnoozefest.

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sixfeetunder
(Anonymous)
2004-07-19 06:09 pm UTC (link)
six feet under wasn't as full of suck as entourage. but it's near impossible to suck as much as entourage.

-marc b.

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from Jamie
(Anonymous)
2004-07-19 07:06 pm UTC (link)
the part of Entourage i watched was indeed heinous, but i don't know what is worng with everyone who's bad mouthing Six Feet Under these days. i've really been enjoying it.

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Re: from Jamie
[info]youthlarge
2004-07-19 07:10 pm UTC (link)
i've been enjoying this season of 6FU immensely, but last night's episode was an atrocity. it played out like a C grade lifetime channel thriller. the worst part is if that character will now be reoccuring. he was this "i'm meek and goofy SNL jimmy fallon" rip-off. bad enough when fallon is doing that, worse when it's become a character for others to adopt.

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Re: from Jamie
(Anonymous)
2004-07-19 09:25 pm UTC (link)
i didn't have the time or the talent to describe what i liked about it, but Salon.com's Heather Havrilesky was kind enough to do it for me:

"...this had the effect of making the second half of the show torturous and disturbing and incredibly claustrophobic, lingering as we did with the frustratingly helpless David and his new freakish criminal friend. Still, I sort of enjoyed it all in a sick way. I don't need to tell you I'm a masochist -- I'm a TV critic, for chrissakes -- but it was mesmerizing to see David in such a complexly, horrifyingly bad spot. Michael C. Hall's performance was fantastic, of course, his face fluttering with fragility and rage and worry like ripples in a reflecting pool."

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Re: from Jamie
[info]youthlarge
2004-07-19 09:35 pm UTC (link)
torturous, yes. disturbing only because david's actions were incredibly dumb. is his face ever NOT fluttering with fragility and rage and worry? the moment that really stabbed me in the heart was when crazy boy smelled farts and got out of the car to dump the body. he got out of the car first and david followed him! why didn't david haul his ass out of there?

oh and i guess i'm in the minority when i say i enjoyed entourage? adrian grenier's stubble is rather fetching.

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from dan
(Anonymous)
2004-07-19 10:09 pm UTC (link)
i kind of liked entourage. we'll see what happens with it. i thought the second half was better than the first.

i didn't hate the episode of six feet under as much as everyone else i was with but it was silly. it reminded me of some episode of "er" back in 95? when i felt like the show was over. the whole episode involved clooney out of the hospital on some dumb adventure.

the whole thing on six feet under last night still proves to me that the writers have no fucking clue what to do with these characters anymore.

i can't wait until the freak comes by their house because he has david's wallet. wait till he gets a sniff of george's son's shit!

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Re: from dan
[info]youthlarge
2004-07-19 10:15 pm UTC (link)
i see your ER comparsion. it was the episode where the clooney is set to go to some black tie affair to pick up some award. it is raining. it is pouring. en route some kid flags down his car asking for help. the kid's brother or friend is stuck in a drain and as it is pouring rain, he is in danger of drowning. the clooney saves the day. hurrah. i think he also smokes a joint in the car during the episode. when i was unemployed i watched a whole lot of ER.

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From Jim
(Anonymous)
2004-07-20 01:02 am UTC (link)
Jamie and anyone else who liked that SFU episode is insane. That half-hour odyssey of low-budget scare-flick audience manipulation was so astoundingly bad, I was livid. As Sujan said, why didn't David drive off when the guy got out of the car first? Is David stupid in addition to being a wimpy doormat? I thought he was supposed to be intelligent.

The scene a bit later with him seeing the cop car and not shouting to the cop or trying to run over there, then being muffled by the guy while we, the audience, are supposed to squirm and say "Oh no, what tragic irony!" was totally out of Halloween or Friday the 13th. SFU is supposed to be better than that. It's supposed to be nuanced, sophisticated TV.

And that guy was such an annoying character. If the whole thing was 7 or 8 minutes long and had roughly the same trajectory, I might not have been so pissed off. But to take up so much of our time with bullshit about the guy's dead dad, which turned out to be a lie, and chasing after his dog and smoking crack, what the hell is wrong with the writers? Dan is right, they ran out of interesting things for the characters to do and decided to go extreme. Always a bad move. It totally smacked of "very special episode" territory.

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From Jim, Part Two
(Anonymous)
2004-07-20 01:04 am UTC (link)
I'm not done yet. What I was liking best about this season is that David and Keith finally have some stability in their relationship. David had been starting to act more confident and laid back. With Keith going away for a while, and a lot of tension on the home and work front vis a vis George not fitting into the family and Nate leaving the job, there's all kinds of interesting story arcs they could have thought up for David. But no, they took the TV-easy way out and threw in this traumatic, over-the-top, horrible-things-happen-to-people-in-cities incident.

A couple other things: 1. David picks the guy up on the side of the road, they go to a gas station in total daylight. Then, seemingly moments later, it's pitch dark outside. What the fuck? 2. I challenge anyone to drive around L.A. the way they did, with no pedestrians or other cars in sight ever. Just the one cop car, and the crack dealers. 3. Another point about David's intelligence: would he really have believed such an obvious lie as "my grandmother fell and broke her hip", and continued to believe it after the first ATM was "broken"?

If David becomes a crack addict or starts having constant panic attacks or flashbacks, or they bring that guy on for anything more than to get arrested or get his ass kicked, I might actually give up on the show. That's how pissed off I was last night (and still am, apparently).

Entourage was not great but I kind of liked it. It was way more enjoyable than Six Feet of Crap, that's for damn sure. Also, Ali G was very funny. And so was The Assistant, which LTL had DVRd from last week.

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Re: From Jim, Part Two
(Anonymous)
2004-07-20 06:46 pm UTC (link)
daylight continuity aside (and sure, i was screaming at David as to why he didn't take off when the guy got out of the car) here's what i think:

1. David's problems started after the phone call from Keith which undercut his newfound laid-backness. i think this is reasonable characterization of David - it's much more believable to think that faced with the prospect of being wihtout Keith for a while, David reverts to his old ways than for him to be fine with it.

2. so now he feels needy. coupled with his recent success in the random hook-up department, he thinks "hey, maybe i can do something nice and get a little something in return" which fact is cemented by his extended fantasy conversation where the guy offers to be his "boy on the side, who really understands [him]".

3. even after everything, David still doesn't give up on his fantasy as his subconscious continues to think that there's a chance for sex of some sort. this is why i think his not taking off when the guy jumps out wasn't all the horrendous. in some ways, David is playing a part in his own fantasy and the only way it can be fulfilled is if he continues playing the part. meanwhile, his survival instincts occasionally try to figure out ways for him to get out of the situation.

4. the whole thing tied into the conversation with the guy who's wife dies at the beginning of the episode. when he asked "why does God punish people like me" or whatever it was ("like me" meaning loving of his wife, etc.), and David replied "he doesn't". David's odyssey can then be viewed as either an affirmation or a contradiction of his statement. does David gets punished despite the fact that he's a loving brother/son/partner or is he getting some sort of karmic comeuppance for forsaking his relationship/playing the martyr/being gay (simply in the sense that someone with a religious upbringing might have some issues here)?

i don't think this was an easy way out at all and i think the writers actually have quite a firm grip on the show.

jamie

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I hated it too
(Anonymous)
2004-07-21 03:31 am UTC (link)
I was in the likely-unique position of watching it with my parents. We all hated it. For one thing, I thought the van-jacker's performance was awful - but that could have been partially due to a ridiculous script. Except for the first episode, the shit-through-the-mail and a few scenes with David/Keith, I think this season has been really disappointing. Rico's storyline is silly and unbelievable (and features more bad acting), Claire's is predictable and dull, and Brenda has become unbearable. For me the show is at its best when the Fisher family is dealing with one another and the family business - now that there are so many peripheral characters and wacky guest stars, the main cast barely interacts with one another at all, and that's usually when shows become victims of their own success, turning away from their focus and becoming soap operas.

And what's the deal with Nate? Wouldn't it have been much more interesting to further explore his mixed emotions about Lisa's death? His conflicted feelings about missing her - but also wanting to be rid of her in the first place - could have been cool to see in more detail, and I feel like they're just making him kind of disturbed and angry instead. As for "Entourage," I was bored but I'm not ready to give up on it yet. Am I the only one who prefers the Borat segments to Ali G's? Love the subtitles. (Mitch)

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Re: I hated it too
(Anonymous)
2004-07-21 05:23 pm UTC (link)
Jaime The episode sucked, Jump the Shark momemnt MOST DEF. I went from loving the show to not caring in 45minutes. I too have mostly enjoyed this season. BUT Mitch's critique of the season on whole is DEAD ON. I too am sick of the Rico storyline, dpressed cranky nate and the Claire LUG stryline. And I HATE that Mia Sluvacki bitch. Also I thought this season was suppossed to be "lighter" and more funny?????????

Entourage was pretty bad, but I will watch again, if only for my boy J-Piv. Hey I watched Eleen for him!!!!!

Ali-G is the BOMBDIGITY and Borat does rule as well.

THE ASSISTANT RULZ....6 FEET UNDER YOUR ABOUT TO GET CLIPPED!

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FROM LTL , aswas last post
(Anonymous)
2004-07-21 05:29 pm UTC (link)
What is Livejournal....

ALSO why are we listening to Mr. Apes about TV for? He doesnt think Curb Your Enthusiasum is good????????????????????????

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Re: FROM LTL , aswas last post
[info]youthlarge
2004-07-21 05:37 pm UTC (link)
livejournal is a second rate blogging system. i hate it. they took away any control to change the look of your blog with the free subscription.

but anyway, yeah, why are we listening to someone who hates curb? good point.

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From Jim
(Anonymous)
2004-07-21 11:36 pm UTC (link)
Jamie, I admire your tenacity at defending that horrible episode, but I disagree with your points and stand by my assessment. It su-hucked! Whether the writers know what they're doing or not, what they're doing happens to be stupid and ill-advised. It's funny that you brought up that moment when David's on the phone with Keith, because that's when I started hating the episode. He was being so whiny with all this "We left things weird, it was awkward when you left..." What the hell was he talking about? David left things totally fine.

Introducing such an extreme, jarring storyline--instead of patiently and subtly developing interacations between characters--brings the show down to the level of Days of Our goddamn Lives (or Young and the goddamn Restless). Also, the carjacker/crackhead freak seemed like he was doing a poor, watered-down impression of Bobcat Goldthwait. If they were dead set on having a so-bad-it's-laughable half-hour torturefest like that, they could have at least embraced the humor possibilities and gotten Bobcat himself to play the role.

Mitch is right, Nate is way too gloomy and mad and sad. He didn't really want to be married to her anyway, and I think there's been time enough for him to get over both his genuine grief and his understandable guilt about not even liking her. He should be enjoying his freedom by now. He was a better character when he was just angsty, not totally consumed with self-pity.

I need more Assistant and Ali G in my life. Good thing I have so many friends with cable!!!!

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