Entries in the Category "parodies"
The Era of the Clip Show is Over (and The Office Didn't Get the Memo)
I was about five minutes into tonight's episode of The Office when I said to myself, "...Are they doing a clip show?" I hadn't seen one of those in so long it took me utterly by surprise.
Remember when clip shows were on all the time? Friends used to air one every season. I think the first one was the episode where Ross wavered on whether to send Rachel an invitation to his wedding, and, once he did, she wavered on whether or not to go. That flimsy 'plot' was interspersed with flashback clips of Ross and Rachel's relationship. (P.S. To all Martians or Amish people or people raised by wolves who haven't seen that season of Friends, DO IT! You won't believe how that whole wedding thing goes.)
The Office did much the same thing; there was some weak premise about some guy from corporate who had to do something or other and just asked questions meant to lead up to clip montages: "Have there been incidences of sexual harassment in the workplace?" Oh my gosh, there have! I won't even talk about the cheesetastic Jim-Pam montage.
Although I never pass up the opportunity to watch the Jim-masquerades-as-Dwight moment again ("Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.") the other 29 minutes of the episode seemed pointless. Thinking back on that episode of Friends ("The One With All the Invitations"), clip shows actually had a function then. Friends wasn't in syndication yet, and no shows were on DVD. If you wanted to see that moment from the prom video episode or whatever, that was kind of your only opportunity. That episode might have felt a little cheaty at the time, but what it did do was remind viewers of all of Ross and Rachel's greatest hits and set them up for the big season-ending wedding extravaganza.
But The Office? Do you know how many times I've watched that show on DVD? Do you know how many Tuesday nights I've spent parked in front of TBS watching their weekly marathon? Let's just call it most Tuesdays. I'm just so used to that show being above average, and not falling back on hacky sitcom tricks. I might be a bit disillusioned now.
Best clip show ever? How about "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular"? That was a parody of the clip show, and according to that link, it aired in 1995. Let that tell you something, producers of The Office.
Strange Connections
It's always been fascinating to me how easily connections can be drawn between completely disparate fields of study. As an undergrad, I was always getting shocked when the same concept came up in lit class and sociology class, or in physics and women's studies, or whatever. Right now I'm taking two courses, and although both are literature-based, they cover different subjects and eras. And yet, everything I'm reading right now is strangely connected to everything else.
Firstly, I'm in the middle of The Mysteries of Udolpho, which is kind of the seminal Gothic novel, full of castles, mysterious portraits and people hearing noises in the next room, creeping in and finding it strangely empty. For the same class, I am also reading (actually just finished) Northanger Abbey. The connection between those is relatively clear: Jane Austen wrote Northanger as both an homage to and a parody of the Gothic novel. The main character, Catherine, reads Udolpho:
'But, my dearest Catherine, what have you been doing with yourself all this morning?--Have you gone on with Udolpho?'
'Yes, I have been reading it ever since I woke; and I am got to the black veil.'
'Are you, indeed? How delightful! Oh! I would not tell you what is behind the black veil for the world! Are not you wild to know?'
'Oh! yes, quite; what can it be?--But do not tell me--I would not be told upon any account. I know it must be a skeleton, I am sure it is Laurentina's skeleton. Oh! I am delighted with the book! I should like to spend my whole life in reading it. I assure you, if it had not been to meet you, I would not have come away from it for all the world.'
The joke of the novel is that Austen took this particular comic tone in narrating it; she writes as though Catherine's ordinariness is continuously overthrowing her expectations of Gothic happenings. For example, while traveling, Catherine is surprised to reach her destination without a crash or being harassed by bandits.
So, already there was tons of crossover appeal between those two books. Then, yesterday, I started Ian McEwan's Atonement for a completely different class. Imagine my surprise when I opened it to the beginning and discovered that McEwan opened it with a quotation from Northanger Abbey!
Weird, man. Weird.
Ah, To Be This Clever
From McSweeney's (the sometimes too too clever hipster publication which in this case got it just right):
Famous Authors Narrate the Funny Pages
Beetle Bailey
by Ernest Hemingway
"It's a mighty sorry business, Sarge being blown up like that," Beetle said. The other soldiers in the café nodded silently. He ordered another bottle of vermouth and drank the vermouth. It was a good vermouth.
Check out the others, including Peanuts by Jane Austen and Dilbert by Charles Dickens. Garfield by James Joyce is also a highlight.
Cool Guys and Explosions
I've got tons to say on the subject of our recent move, but I'm too tired to approach that right now.
In the meantime, I have to link to this video from MTV's Movie Awards. By some amazing coincidence, last night Jeremy and I discussed the same cinematic cliche which is mocked in this video while Jeremy watched the end of Shooter. In fact, the very moment from Shooter that prompted my comment is in the video: the "Mark Wahlberg is wearin' a hat" moment.
I should get around and watch one of the million reruns on the Movie Awards on the off chance of there being more Andy Samberg hilarity. This link will bring you to a bunch of the digital shorts he's put on SNL since joining the cast. Do me a favor and skip ahead to page 4 to watch "Cookies," which is my favorite.
Sad to say that Will Ferrell's Neil Diamond impression is a bit rusty, though. The impression is in full force in this Gap commercial: