Chris Braak's Blog, page 23

Why 'Alcatraz' Deserves a Second Season

Alcatraz wraps up its first and potentially only season, with a ton of unanswered questions, because people aren't generally trained on how to watch television these days. Which is to say, the rule is: "You gotta power through the first six episodes, because they're probably not gonna be all that good, but there's potential, which usually only gets reached in season 2, so please be patient."

Things the Cameraman of the Hunger Games Might Have Been Thinking

"I just think the lower back is the most revealing part of any character." "Fuck the fight director, no one wants to see what that fight looks like." "God damn, Elizabeth Banks has got a hot god damn earlobe.  Look at that earlobe!" "We're gonna shoot the other side of this guy's head eventually, right?" [...]

John Carter, Sad Hero of Mars

Well, word is that John Carter (of Mars) isn't going to do so well – certainly not enough to make back its budget, or merit any sequels. This is kind of a shame, because I think it was pretty much a lot of fun, but at least now I can talk about what I think [...]

The Days of the Black Dog

I'll write about it, because this sort of thing is always difficult to talk about  to another person. Not just because it gets stuck in your throat, which it does, and who knows why?  Shame, probably, which I suspect is close to the root of the whole thing.  But also because when you talk about [...]

The Apple – US Merger

So, Apple is sitting on something in excess of 100 billion dollars in cash, and there are somewhere on the order of 207 million eligible voters in the United States.  What happens if Apple creates the Apple Political Party, with the platform of "Apple Should be the Official Business of the United States" — with [...]

Curse of the Starving Class at the Wilma

I've got to admit, I don't know whether those Wilma Theater cats are really happy with the theater that they've got. It's a great big cavernous space, with, I don't know, three hundred seats or something like that. It can't be mixed around the way a traditional black box can, though it doesn't have that [...]

Marketing Weirdness and Why a 'Smallville' Digital Comic Might Be Really Good

I enjoy the weird continuity that has resulted from concocting a kinda-sorta DC Universe in one show. Starting with: Superman's best friend is Green Arrow, who is married to quasi-Oracle. How goofy is that? In Smallville, the Jimmy Olsen role is filled by GREEN ARROW.

Second Sword: Wudang Tai Yi Jian

So, I have been doing my First Sword (32-Posture Tai Chi Jian) since about may, I guess. For Christmas, I received a number of new DVDs about Jian fencing, and around about January I started working on a new form: the Wudang Tai Yi Jian form, put together by this famous Daoist monk who now [...]

Rush Limbaugh Does Not Understand Apologies (and is an Idiot)

So, by now probably you have all heard about Sandra Fluke, and her testimony about why 1) some women need "birth control" for reasons other than explicitly controlling birth, and 2) it's not really the Catholic Church's business to decide what medical treatments their employees get, one way or the other. And maybe you have [...]

JOHN CARTER OF MARS YOU PUNK SUCKERS!

Released in the United States as John Carter, even though he is definitely of Mars. This is a pretty good movie, about a Civil War veteran who, via some kind of magical scientific process, is transported to Mars, where he gains the power of LEAPING, and uses it to fight some giant green Martians, and [...]