I don't know how to use bullet points.
- When did, all of a sudden, TV become better than the movies? It certainly wasn't like this five years ago. There was great TV five years ago, and bad movies too, but not the imbalance between the two as there is now. In a way this hark's back to my childhood; I was the kid who had never seen a "good" movie in my life and yet knew what show was on what station on what time, what day of the week. Meanwhile, my south-Florida intellectual friends would feign disinterest in our greatest invention: "Oh, I hate TV. I don't even watch it." We all knew this was never true, because those are/were the same people you have/had all-night discussions about Full House, but we can forgive them for trying to come off as intelligent.
Something happened to me in tenth or eleventh grade that prompted me to start watching every movie I could get my hands on; that thing was girls. No female I was ever interested in would be satisfied if I told them the only movies I had seen were Gremlins 2 and The Lion King a buncha times. Before Meet The Parents came out, the last movie I had seen in theaters was Rookie of the Year. I regret seeing both equally. What I learned in getting into film is that there's no easy way in; you gotta climb your way up. To a fan of the french new-wave, Tarantino may seem trite (and he is), but it takes a person of knowledge and experience to get so far. By this I mean: I'm not sure if I'm embarassed or proud to say that Donnie Darko was once my favorite movie. That's okay though. In terms of movies, I'm slightly advanced. I think Godard is great and yet I could care less about the Criterion Collection. In other words: I think PT Anderson is way better than Wes Anderson and hipsters might want to kill me for that. I don't care. It's come to the point to where I couldn't be bothered with what great new indie-film comes out on DVD or what great new re-release of ten years ago's indie-film comes out in DVD. Brick was supposed to be really good, guys! Yawn. And you know--I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was great. I just don't care. Nor do I care to see Million Dollar Baby. Will I ever get around to watching Good Night and Good Luck? I haven't even come around to Good Will Hunting!
Why am I so apathetic to films these days? Maybe it's because I've seen all but two good movies in the theater this year (excluding Jackass: Number Two which is hilarious): Hard Candy and Little Miss Sunshine. Or maybe it's TV's fault. For the two good movies I see a year, I can name maybe ten shows that I'm addicted to and play all year-round (okay, some of 'em are cancelled, but you get the point!).
- OZ
- Wonder Showzen
- Maury
- Lost
- The Colbert Report
- Stella
- In Living Color Reruns
- X-Play
- The Daily Show
- South Park
- Curb Your Enthusiasm
- The Soup
- The Surreal Life
- Nip/Tuck
- WonderPets!
- Lazy Town
I could watch hours and hours of these programs without so much a yawn and yet I struggle to sit through 90 minute movies these days. For a while there I was thinking that maybe I don't like films as much as I thought I did. WRONG! The same thing happens with me and reading until I pick up something that isn't complete trash. That's not to say the Maury show isn't complete trash in it's own right, but it's the kind that's welcome in my eternal subconscious.