Breakout Kings

With the first season of Breakout Kings finished, I thought now would be the best time to discuss the series.

From the minds that developed Prison Break, Breakout Kings follows the exploits of a special US Marshall task force which captures prison escapees. The gimmick is the team utilizes the talents of 3 convicts to accomplish this goal: the daughter of a bounty hunter, a convicted gang leader and a psychiatric genius. In addition, the taskforce is headed by a former desk jockey which a heart problem and a disgraced former Marshall who was convicted for stealing a little money from a drug bust to buy his daughter a used car.

And the thing about the series is, I am not so much enthralled by the escapes, since we've been spoiled by the delightful engineering plans of Michael Scofield on Prison Break. I mean, no matter how elaborate or spectacular the escapes are on this show, we've seen better. But that aspect of the show is the least important part, because it is the catch afterward that drives the story.

The part that I've really enjoyed is the slow revelation of each of the characters' flaws week after week, both to the audience and eventually to the other members of the team. At the beginning, there seemed to be so many questions about who these people were and how they got where they were. The question that really had my interest was what did the goofy Lloyd Lowery, the team's brilliant psychiatric mind, do to earn 25 years of hard time in maximum security. And every episode has had some form of reveal, so I feel like I am watching this show for the characters rather than each individual plot, which is a good place to start from, since I am sure there are only so many variations they can do in terms of escaped criminals. I would say that the series is very much about the dynamics of the team and its individuals first, and

I was sort of miffed that the series brought out Prison Break's eminently watchable monster, Theodore Bagwell, for an episode early in the run. If it was me, I would have introduced him a little later in the season for the sake of anticipation, but other than that, I don't really have any complaints. At no point did I find myself saying "Oh, come on!" which given the tough sell premise, is a good thing. While not the most riveting television ever, the writers and actors understand the material and have crafted a compelling show that I've enjoyed watching the past 13 weeks.

I am glad I decided to start watching the series now, and I will certainly be tuning in next season to see how things develop.

Well, For Some People, This Could Do In A Pinch

Samuraifrog is bummed that LEGO Ghostbusters doesn't exist as of yet.

Well, this mashup looks awesome too.

The gang over at Bit Rebels posted this image of the Ghostbusters as interpreted through the lens Super Mario Brothers.

I would totally play that.

Sunday Video: War by Edwin Starr

For Memorial Day, celebrate the actions of men, not the institution.

I wish the Veterans of America the best of health, both physically and mentally.

The Sarandons

The Sentinel was on today and I started to think about the life and work of its star, Chris Sarandon.

I wonder if Chris Sarandon is jealous of his ex-wife Susan's success with his last name?

Especially since she got her first acting job accompanying him to an audition.

Yes, he has played some iconic roles, including his work in The Princess Bride, but Susan Sarandon has placed a much deeper impression on pop culture. Being in a midnight movie that just won't die tends to do that.

I wonder if it eats away at him now or if he is happy for her and her successes.

XKCD And Wikipedia

The comic XKCD recently published a strip which in the hidden text claimed that if you started on any page on Wikipedia and clicked the first link that wasn't in italics or brackets and do so in each article that comes up from that initial click and you will always eventually end up at the article about Philosophy.

So I thought I would test that out.

Let's see... let's start with Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson
Civil Rights Movement
Political Movement
Social Movement
Group Action
Sociology
Society
Interpersonal Relationship
Limerence
Psychologist
Clinical Psychology
Mental Disorder
Psychology
Science
Knowledge
Facts
Information
Sequence
Mathematics
Quantity
Property
Modern Philosophy
Philosophy

It is just that easy!

It is a fun little experiment, though I think I know the pattern (since most of my searches end up at science and then trickle down to philosophy following that). Since tangible ideas are based on ideas, deep down they all end up boiling down to philosophy if you keep clicking through.

Try it yourself. Come on, you know you want to!

Trackmania?

Anyone else out there play the PC games Trackmania United/Forever?

If you do, my username is writinguy if you want to race.

Midweek Video: BTTF Alternate Ending: Biff Is Dead

We are having some storms, and I thought this was appropriate today.

I've Been Slacking Off When It Comes To Comments

I think I've been more than a bit lazy when it comes to answering comments here at Culture Kills.

I call your comments contributions, and they truly are, and I have been letting you all down by not responding in kind.

I feel terrible and I will try to do better in this regard in the future.

My Thoughts On Regarding Not Doing The Pageant Of Transmundanity Weekly Anymore

Previewing ABC's New Series: Once Upon A Time and Charlie's Angels

I was given the opportunity to watch a few preview trailers provided by an ABC representative of two of their upcoming fall series: Once Upon a Time and Charlie's Angels, both of which feature strong female characters.

Of the two, Once Upon A Time has the more interesting starting premise. Emma Swan, played by Jennifer Morrison of House, M.D. fame, is a bail bond collector who is contacted by the 10 year old son she gave up for adoption. She is soon drawn into the problems of a New England town called Storybrooke, which turns out to be populated by fairy tale characters trapped in a modern setting with no recollection of their collective past because of a spell cast by the Evil Queen (who also happens to be mayor of the town).

Featuring Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Carlyle, Raphael Sbarge and Lana Parilla and created by Lost producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, Once Upon A Time looks like it could be a thoughtful and twisted journey into the world of fairy tales, though I don't think it is going to push the envelope too hard in terms of violence or overtly sexual story lines since it is going to air on Sunday nights at 8.

However, given the relative lack of success for other high concept shows like this on network television in recent years, I am still a little pessimistic about its chances long term. There have been a lot of fans who have been burned after following a wonderfully constructed show which plays with the tropes of a genre. Occasionally one makes an impact and has a relatively long run, but such a series has to get a strong following almost from the beginning.

But perhaps the star power both in front of and behind the camera can help this series succeed in the long run because it certainly seems like it would have the makings of an entertaining show.

Which brings me to the other series I was given a preview of: the reboot of Charlie's Angels.

The series is executive produced by Drew Barrymore and Leonard Goldberg, both of whom have a legacy with the franchise, and I have to say that it looks very promising. I am very much a fan of empowered female characters, and hopefully this series will keep with the times and balance the titillation with solid character development and some deeper mysteries.

From the preview, it seems as if the series is going to steer away from some of the campiness of the two feature films and take things a little more seriously. For some reason I definitely got an early Alias vibe from this production, and that is a very good thing. And with the success of the recent television reboots of Hawaii Five-O and Battlestar Galactica, it certainly seems that this series has a shot at long term viability.

Starring Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor and Annie Ilonzeh, this Charlie's Angels reboot seems like it is being positioned to be a winner this fall with its placement on Thursday nights before Grey's Anatomy.

Given the casting changes the original series went through during its run, I can only hope that the new version maintains a little more continuity because it does seem like a very promising show, and the one I am most looking forward to between the two previewed series.

So it looks like ABC has a couple of series worth taking a look at in the coming season. I guess only time will tell if they will ultimately be successful.

Article first published as Previewing ABC's New Series: Once Upon A Time and Charlie's Angels on Blogcritics.

You Know What Would Be Awesome?

If someone made an Oreo cookie that was made from one original Oreo half and one golden Oreo half.

I swear marijuana was not involved in that thought.

Midweek Video: The Big Snit

Once again, I go to the National Film Board of Canada for a video for this week. It is a deep well.

A Golden Girls Remake: Only In My Dreams

I had a dream that someone remade The Golden Girls.

I don't know why I had this dream, but the casting was interesting to say the least.

The producers hired Susan Sarandon for Blanche, Helen Mirren for Dorothy, Goldie Hawn for Rose and Sophia Loren for Sophia.

I have no idea why I had this dream, but you know what, in my mind at the time, it was actually a great set of casting, though Goldie Hawn seemed to be the weak link since Betty White made Rose Nyland. She seems like the hardest one to replace, especially since she is still around and doing television work.

So, since I had this dream, I am curious... if you had to cast a Golden Girls remake, who would you chose?

Seth MacFarlane Redoing The Flintstones For Fox

That is some terrible news right there.

I guess Matt Groening can't get another cartoon since Seth Macfarlane is sucking up all the animation budgets now. I mean, they both had shows which were cancelled by Fox and resurrected because of their repeats on cable TV.

So I must ask, when will MacFarlane have enough. And when will the viewing public have enough of his work too.

You remember a long time ago, I mentioned the fact that it seemed that J.J. Abrams could only work on one show at a time, since every time he did two, the new show got all the attention while the older show really went off course?

Well, if you thought MacFarlane's other shows were bad now, think about how much worse they'll be when he is working on four.

Yes, The Flintstones fits in with his overall pattern of show development as well.

So we get a remake and Seth MacFarlane taking over more of the airwaves... that is a bad idea all around.

Donald Trump Not Running For President

I am totally not surprised that Donald Trump isn't going to run for president.

For one, he has had quite a track record for entertaining the thought of running for president, but he always withdraws. It has been noted that often when he does, he has another project he really wants to draw attention to, such as a book, or in this case, a television series.

Secondly, he would have to disclose the nitty gritty of his finances if he were to run, and frankly, he is too much of a chicken to publicly release that information. He acts like he has a big set of balls, and might be someone who puts their money where their mouth is (after all, he was demanding documentation from Obama), but frankly, he's not. He talks big but he doesn't deliver.

Thirdly, even without a commitment to run for office, skeletons were coming out of his closet from his past. The problems his companies have had and the positions and public statements he made throughout his public career have already been coming to the surface and I am sure a long haul campaign would have been very damaging to his reputation.

Fourthly, he would have had to quit the Celebrity Apprentice, a show which is good for both his pocketbook and his exposure. A presidential campaign would cost him a lot more money in the long run, so it seems unlikely he will ever run.

And finally, the comedy... oh, the comedy. Donald Trump is not a man who can take a joke at his own expense, and with not only the current President ripping on him hard during the Correspondence Dinner, but the grim spectre of The Simpsons' predictions about the Trump Presidency after Lisa became the President would just hurt so bad.

Again, I quote:

Lisa: As you know, we've inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump. How bad is it Secretary Van Houten?
Milhouse: [shows to a chart] We're broke.
Lisa: The country is broke? How can that be?
Milhouse: Well, remember when the last administration decided to invest in our nation's children? Big mistake.
Aide: The balanced breakfast program just created a generation of ultra-strong super-criminals.
Milhouse: And midnight basketball taught them to function without sleep.

He really was in a no win situation.

Sunday Video: Metric Perform Dead Disco On Zed

I saw this a long time ago and it was hard to find... but it seems someone has finally put it on Youtube.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Week 52: The Final Weekly Pageant of the Transmundane

In lieu of a weird news story to open this feature, I have an announcement to make. I started the weekly Pageant of the Transmundane back in May of 2006, and I met some great people because of it. However, over the past year, writing this feature every weekend has been sort of draining, and it wasn't as fun as it used to be. In many ways, I felt like I was sort of phoning it in, so it is with a slightly heavy heart that I am discontinuing the Pageant of the Transmundane as a weekly feature after this post.

However, that doesn't mean that the Pageant of the Transmundane is going to disappear. Rather, I will only be awarding this prize when I feel it is warranted. If it is twice in a given week, then I will do so, but likely it won't be as prominent as it once was.

And for this final weekly dose of Transmundanity, I thought I would give the award to this chat image from Daily Dawdle.

And for this final time out, I thought I would go out with an image from my favorite Homer Simpson scene ever where he engages in a losing battle with a pitching machine at the batting cages in "Bart The Mother". It makes me laugh every time.

Every. Time.

And the closing line of the scene, delivered by Bart was the perfect topper: "Wow, you sure get a lot of balls for a quarter."

Congrats to the staff of The Daily Dawdle. Huzzah!

Now to make this final bit of fine print past tense.

The rules of this little contest: Every week I used to select a post that I had seen from the vast reaches of the blogging village and bestow it with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I'd seen or read during a 7 day period. It didn't necessarily have to have been written during that week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you got the prize. Of course, creating your own content was also a very good way to win.

This is was not a meme. This was an award that I gave out, and thus, I was not "tagging" you.

Onion Sports Network: You So Awesome

For this picture alone, they deserve praise.

via the Onion Sports Network

Midweek Video: The Black Fly Song

If you've ever had any long time exposure to an area with a lot of black flies, you will certainly understand where this song is coming from.

Mosquitos are ninjas... black flies are hairy little brutes.

Another NFB of Canada classic from 1991.

11 Reasons Why Atlas Shrugged Failed At The Box Office

Depending on which way you phrased your Google search, Atlas Shrugged was either a triumphant success despite the Hollywood conspiracy, or looking at the dollar and cents side of things (you know, that little thing called reality), it has been a failure so far. Because if Scott Pilgrim making 3/4 of its money back is a failure, only making about 1/4 of the budget back is most certainly one too.

So here are 11 reasons why Atlas Shrugged failed at the box office:

1. The source material is what the word turgid was invented to describe.

2. The threat that it was a trilogy and the psychic scarring the general public had from the last pseudo-philosophical trilogy of movies featuring human parasitism. You know, the Matrix movies.

3. To quote Cloris Leachman during the Roast of Bob Saget: "Somebody punch me in the face so I can see some stars."

4. The only place I hear about this movie are political shows either lauding it or ripping on it.

5. 13% on Rotten Tomatoes.

6. It was apparently badly written and directed. That's a biggie.

7. The writer/producer honestly believes that the critics conspired to destroy the movie based on its ideas rather than reasons #3 and #6.

8. Ayn Rand isn't a great selling point for the majority of the population, considering in her mixed bag of beliefs, she holds positions which are anathema to both sides of the political divide (anti-religion, pro-abortion, anti-social safety net, anti-affirmative action etc). If you really put that out there, that would alienate a lot of people.

9. They didn't even market it to people who would be outside of the core libertarian/Tea Party base, so they were basically trying to market a 20 million dollar movie to a really small audience. The Passion of the Christ cost about 30 million a few years ago, and they marketed that thing to everyone, even though it most of the money it made was likely from a very small group of people.

10. As has been joked in the past, market forces determined that this film was found wanting in so many ways.

And finally:

11. The movie wasn't advertised with the tagline "See the source material for Bioshock!"

ABC's What Would You Do? Is Cheap, Exploitive Television

There is something that just rubs me the wrong way about the ABC series What Would You Do?

When you watch a show that is based on practical jokes and pranks, they sort of let those people off the hook at the end, no matter how outlandish the situation and break the tension.

But in the case of this show, if those who happen to witness the little pieces of live theatre don't respond in the theoretical way they are supposed to, then they are made to feel like they are horrible people because they didn't get involved.

I think that the goal is the audience watches it and thinks that these people are just sitting there letting this bad thing happen to someone else and that they themselves wouldn't do that if they were in that situation.

One of things tends to get stressed a lot in our social discourse is not to be confrontational. When you are a kid, you are punished for being disruptive, even if you have a good cause for doing so, and as an adult, there are societal pressures to not get involved, to mind your own business.

In some of these situations, you don't know if escalating it is going to end up with you in a fist fight or being involved in an incident where the police are involved. You might even get shot because you don't know how crazy that other person is.

And it isn't like the group dynamics of this sort of thing hasn't been studied based on real life events. They even have a name for it: the bystander effect. People, especially in setting where there are a lot of other bystanders, tend not to get involved in situations.

What else I've noticed from watching these segments is a lot of the time, the people who get involved are those who have personal experience with that particular kind of scenario (which again, is consistent with the bystander effect).

For example, there was a situation where a waiter in a New York restaurant refused to serve a gay couple and their kids. One of the few tables that was shown standing up for the couple and their kids was an older interracial couple, and in a scenario where a person was ripping on a bagger at a grocery store who had Down Syndrome, a guy who had a sister with that same condition came out and berated the actor playing the prick and comforted the actor with Down Syndrome.

I am sure there is a lot of reality show editing going on as well and prodding... because if they didn't get footage they wanted, they would just keep hammering on the issue so they can get a response from a witness to the events.

The thing that occurs to me when thinking about this whole show is it doesn't address the people who saw the made up injustices and while they didn't say anything, did watch the events in question, decided that they wouldn't patronize that business again and that they would tell all their friends about what they saw. Or they may have whipped out a cell phone with a camera on it and recorded the incident.

And correct me if I am wrong, but in the past, didn't news programs expose the businesses that engaged and encouraged that sort of behavior rather than creating those situations themselves, because I think their news gathering dollars would be better spent going after them rather than unsuspecting members of the general public. Then again, it is probably a lot safer for them to go after the latter group since they don't buy advertising.

It is just really horrible television, and given some of the other things that are on, that is saying something.

What The Finland Thinks Of American Cuisine

Supposedly this is the American food section in the ethnic aisle of a Finnish grocery store.

If that is really what it is, it makes me question our own ethnic food sections in our own supermarket (and I don't know what the exchange rate is, but wow, that seems expensive).

Sunday Video: Get A Job

When I was a kid, there were three National Film Board of Canada cartoons that got a lot of airplay on cable: The Big Snit, The Cat Came Back and Get A Job. The first two continued to get a lot of airplay over the years, but somehow Get A Job fell by the wayside some time in the 1990's and it didn't get the credit it deserved.

It was certainly created with a wonderfully colorful art style.

Week 51: Pageant of the Transmundane

A man in Sweden robbed a bank in an animal costume and then proceeded to outrun police, two things which should have been very difficult in that attire.

This week's entry comes to us from My Funny Pictures.

In this case, it is an excellent picture featuring a number of Johnnie Walker variations.

I could have went with so many images of Homer Simpson drunk, but I thought him jumping out of a beer keg would be the funniest and most appropriate image this week.

Congrats MonkeyMan, here is your badge.

The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogging village to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

This is not a meme. This is an award that I give out, and thus, I am not "tagging" you.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

The Osama Death Photo: Why Do You Need to See It?

Since the announcement Sunday regarding the killing of Osama Bin Laden, there has been a less than subtle undercurrent to many of the conversations regarding this event. In particular, there have been vocal rumblings amongst more than a few that the event in question may not have happened unless the death photo is released.

But the kind of person who demands photographic proof that Bin Laden is dead to believe it is true is likely the same kind of person who would not accept such proof. Even before a decision was made about releasing the photos, there were elements who were discussing the fact that the photos were doctored, sight unseen. It seems safe to say that no matter what proof is provided to these individuals, they are not going to accept the veracity of that documentation.

To put this matter into perspective, think about those individuals who claim that the moon landings were a series of hoaxes. No matter how much evidence and how many first-person accounts these people are presented with, it is never enough. They are convinced in their mind that the events in question were fabricated, and nothing will dissuade them from that opinion. And the people who, in internet parlance, are basically saying "Pics or it didn't happen!" are the same way: they are predisposed not to believe that this event happened.

DNA evidence has freed innocent men and sent the guilty to prison, even years or decades after the crime has occurred. In a court of law, DNA evidence, along with an assortment of other scientific techniques, provides a greater chance of proving a case than a simple picture ever could. In fact, a plan to bomb the compound four months earlier was vetoed so that they could do that kind of post-mortem analysis (amongst other reasons).

I am sure that if given a choice, a prosecuting attorney would rather have the mountain of evidence that accompanied the identification of Bin Laden rather than one photo.

If in the American legal system, the steps taken in identifying the body would prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was in fact Osama Bin Laden if this were a court case, why is this suddenly not acceptable in the court of public opinion?

I understand why certain members of the media may want a picture. After all, being the outlet that obtains them first would likely be a ratings coup. But why does the average person need to see them? I am not talking about those who lost loved ones in the September 11th attacks. I mean, why does everyone else need to see them when in general, the pictures of other criminals or terrorists killed after a raid are not shown to the general public?

In short, I respect the decision not to release the photos, as the reasoning for not doing so is in keeping with past precedent and given the other factors involved in the identification of the body, I am satisfied with the information I have been presented. Again, if this were a court case, the prosecution would have proven its case to me.

* Article first published as The Osama Death Photo: Why do You Need to See It? on Blogcritics.

OH GOD NO!

They are making a sequel to Twins.

I thought the first movie was ok, but who asked for this... aside from Schwartzenegger, because he is just cramming in the quality work these days.

I wonder how much money he personally lost as Governor to do so many sequels and that cartoon.

And really, if they were going to go back to the well for a Schwartzenegger comedy, I thought Kindergarten Cop would have been the better choice.

Midweek Video: The Outline's Shotgun in AMV form

A song I enjoyed in the Burnout games accompanied by over the top fighting from anime... it is a wonderful combination.

Retro Gaming Nostalgia

OK, I admit this is going to sound like the grumblings of an old curmudgeon, but this is something that has been on my mind for a while now.

I've been thinking about some of the things which have entered the pop culture consciousness and it occurred to me that there were particular items of video game history which a lot of younger people have taken as their own, despite having never really experience them.

Take for instance, the Konami code. It is one of those things which is out there in the world, but outside of a few sites, it rarely comes up in mainstream gaming these days. But when I was a kid, it was everywhere... it was a ubiquitous secret code, one which crossed over into the work of other game companies as a reference.

But I don't understand how it got so well known that it ended up being tattooed on multiple people.

I also wonder how many of the teens and 20-somethings that lionize the original Super Mario Brothers have actually played it, as opposed to watching it on Youtube and the like. I am sure it is a much smaller number of people than it appears, and I am sure the number of people of a certain age who played the original Legend of Zelda is relatively low as well, despite the retro geekdom shown by members of that generation.

And I have always been curious about the number of relatively young people who claim that E.T. the Extra Terrestrial is the worst game ever made. I wonder how many of them have actually played it. I mean, when I say something is the worst, I've watched, read or played the item in question.

Again, I sound like a grumpy old man talking about this, but it has been something I have been thinking about for a while.

Obama, Osama and The Daily Show

You know, I wonder which direction Jon Stewart is going to go tonight.

I was eagerly looking forward to seeing how The Daily Show covered the White House Correspondence Dinner, because I knew that it would likely be a funny segment.

However, that was before the Bin Laden news. And I have the feeling that later in the week there is going to be a segment filled with right wing pundits talking about how Bin Laden doesn't matter and attacking the administration for killing rather than capturing him (which will be contrasted with those same figures over the past decade saying the very opposite things).

But tonight... I don't know if it is going to be a more serious start to the show, since on the subject of 9/11, Stewart is rightfully somber and often filled with righteous anger and sorrow, which leads to some of the show's most poignant moments, or is it going to be one filled with humorous triumph?

Or maybe, just maybe, it won't even come up tonight since it isn't really funny.

I guess I'll have to tune in tonight to find out and I am certainly looking forward to seeing Stewart put David Barton on the spot in a couple of days.