Sharon posted a Media-verse yesterday, and since I haven’t done one, or posted to the blog in a while, I figured I’d throw up what I’ve got filling my head.
Podcasts
I’m starting with podcasts because this past weekend I attended Podcamp NYC – the podcasting “unconference” and I’m finding that podcasting is morphing into more than just audio programs. Social media as a whole – everything from audio podcasts, to video podcasts, to video blogging, and more is all blurring into one big community, and it was great to meet lots of people I knew from only being online. I did find a few cool new podcasts – most notably Pop17 with Sarah Meyers and Beach Walks with Roxanne Darling (whom I met).
TV
Well, we’re heading into May sweeps and the TIVO is filling up. Lost is getting good. American Idol is still going strong, and I’m enjoying this year’s competition, despite two lackluster weeks . I found some new Aqua Teen Hunger Force episodes this week. South Park is still funny after 10 seasons, and Battlestar Galactica has kicked into high gear. Still watching Hell’s Kitchen in spite of it being repetitive, and loving Top Chef this season too.
Movies
The only movie I watched recently was the Tim Burton version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I have to say I really disliked this version. Depp as Wonka – he was pitiable and idiotic, and I didn’t find him to be “real” like Gene Wilder’s portrayal.
I think the removal of the Gobstopper moral ploy was detrimental. Actions speak louder than words – and though Charlie said he would sell the ticket to feed his family, he didn’t actually do it. Charlie in the 1971 version DID give back the gobstopper, and his actions spoke loud and clear.
Songs – hard to understand the words – and if they are the original text’s words, they work a lot better as poems in the text rather than songs.
Also – I didn’t find the kids to be particularly humanly flawed either. As characters they fell flat, and the parents were not much better. I hated when the kids walked out of the factory – Mike Teevee looked so incredibly fake and Violet doing all those flips – it was just horrible.
Finally – I think that Burton’s version was so….Burton, and not very Dahl. From the score, to the bleak almost black and white scenes in town (more blue-ish and white – so typical Burton) to the humungously overwhelming factory – it all felt so….yuck. Whereas the 1971 version had a contrast between the bleak and factory that felt more real yet still wonderful.
Finally 2 – The 1971 version has this human sense of wonder about it. They walk into the factory, and Wonka sings about “Pure Imagination” – and you know there is something special going on. There is something still redeeming about Wonka underneath. He has my favorite line of a movie of all time “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.” The kids are so much more real in their horribleness.
I really WANTED to like the Burton version, but man oh man, Burton did NOT do it for me at all.
That all said – I’m really looking forward to Iron Man., Wall-E, Indiana Jones, Hancock, Hellboy II, The Dark Knight, and The X Files. Not that I will actually get to see them all in the theater, but I can dream…..
Books
I finished reading Dan Kennedy’s “Rock On – An Office Power Ballad” which was a funny memoir of working at a record label during the recent downfall of the big record labels. It wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but funny more in the way The Office is funny. I started reading Scott Sigler’s “Infected” – which was originally a Podcast novel, and I never got around to listening to it. It is a good “popcorn” book and reading it is like watching a movie unfold. I can totally see it adapted for the big screen.
Music
Well – I put out a new Jersey Jamcast last week – with some cool new New Jersey artists – most notably Lance Larson, whose album Songs for the Soldier is a nice patriotic piece of work. He’s an NJ guy who is really good friends with Bruce Springsteen. I also recently got the new Asia album Phoenix – which pretty much picks up from where they left off in the ’80s. Also just got yesterday but have yet to listen to the new Madonna album, the new Nerf Herder album, and the new Tom Petty project Mudcrutch. For singles – I am totally digging the new Weezer song “Pork and Beans”, and “Handlebars” by Flobots – which is just an amazing rap/rock song with echoes of both Limp Bizkit and Cake. Yes – I did say them both in the same sentence, and you should go now and watch the video. Oh and the new Neil Diamond song “Pretty Amazing Grace” is just great.
So what are you watching/reading/listening to?
–*Rob
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