Jack Attack Tuesday -TV Round Up, GTA Online, Leto-Joker and Summer Music
Jack Attack Tuesday
TV Round Up, GTA Online, Leto-Joker and Summer Music
I’ll admit it guys, last week I was very light on the content and that Kubrick documentary was a late-game Hail Mary pass. Hopefully some of you found it enjoyable, as I, being the fan of Kubrick that I am, absolutely did. However, you wanted more content, well you’re getting it this week…
Louie season 5 is picking up exactly where last season left off, providing us with the laughs and life-lessons that have pervaded throughout the show (even if we have no idea where those lessons are coming from). The first episode hooked me right away by diving back into Louie’s world as a dad/comic just trying to get by. I’ve always found it absolutely hilarious the way in which Louie weaves stories about his life into these absurdist tales about his place in the grand scheme of things. I’ve always felt like this show is heavily influenced by David Lynch, and the cult dinner party scene is straight out of Lost Highway. But, as this show always does, it has taken us through a complex range of emotions, from the absurdity of the surrogate mother’s depression to the hilarity of Louie not being able to hold in a shit while shopping with his daughters to the touching third episode with a really great Michael Rappoport (an actor I usually hate) giving the performance of his career in the span of twenty minutes. Honestly, hats off to that guy and the way in which he characterizes Louie’s old not-friend Lenny because we all know that type of hopeless asshole. If you aren’t watching Louie, simply put, you’re doing it wrong.
On this week’s BingeCast, it seemed like the guys were pretty lukewarm on the second season of Silicon Valley, and I totally get where they’re coming from. Yeah, the story is pretty simple and seems to hover around the same themes, and it’s relatively unclear what the ultimate endgame is for these characters, but after watching these first two episodes I’m just in. Admittedly, the absence of Peter Gregory is a shame seeing as he was by far the best character on the program. Despite all of that, I love this show. It’s not the funniest show I’ve seen, and it’s not doing anything shows like Entourage or The League have done better, but there’s a heart to the proceedings in this show that I don’t typically see in other programs. I know this is a show that at its core spent an entire season setting up one of the greatest dick jokes in history but I just get this show in a way I don’t with most others. While Office Space is the anthem of middle-American cubicle dwellers, Silicon Valley is a testament to what the country thinks Mark Zuckerburg must have been like, sans The Social Network. I’m loving Silicon Valley and look forward to seeing it through to at least the end of this season.
Guys, GTA Online is in full swing. Aren’t you playing? You should be. While I haven’t been into the GTA Online aspect of the game at all, with the inclusion of the heists it’s finally, in my mind, playable. Before the heists, grinding for money was a chore that took FOR-EVER. Now, you can complete a heist and net a minimum of $100000 on the reg. The disadvantage to this, to anyone who has played them, is the connectivity to the heists themselves. They tend to be a real hassle because of the trial and error involved in the more advanced ones. For instance, the second heist finale involves a prison break. One guy drives a prison bus, one guy is a fake inmate, one guy flies the getaway plane and dodges missiles from the military jets and one guy pilots a helicopter to attach the jets and try to save the getaway plane. If that all sounds complex, it is. It’s also the most frustrating aspect of the game. I played that mission nine times before completing it and with a multitude of different combinations of people. While the chaos of the heists makes the thrill of completing one that much better, it is difficult to get a competent team together to do so. This online aspect of GTA V is an evolving thing and I’m sure it will only improve going forward.
While Nick covered some of my thoughts on the Leto-Joker image, I wanted to chime in on it as well. While I know Nick “McPickle” Spears is a fan of the design, I’m not as enthusiastic. I like the physicality and color scheme as well as the fucked-up teeth, but if those tattoos are staying I’m not into that. At this point, I think someone involved with the production said this is not Joker’s final look, but that “Damaged” line on his forehead is incredibly douche-chilly. I know people doubted Ledger at first but as soon as the production photos started leaking I got excited. I remember seeing Ledger dolled up as Joker for the first time and getting the sense that we were going to see something really special, and we absolutely did. Here, this feels like it needs to be workshopped a little bit further. Joker is not a sympathetic, Latin-King-esque gangbanger, which is unfortunately the exact feeling this photo gives me. Fingers crossed they patch this up and have something more grand in store for us. I know this is a lot of judgement off of one photo but I have an aversion to inked nipples on men, but maybe that’s just me.
Finally, it’s summer music time, and for me that means a whole lot of Van Halen. I notice that every year when it’s time to start rolling the windows down and let the world experience some serious tunes while cruising to/from work there are a handful of groups I always default to. Van Halen (not shitty Van Hagar) is one of them. Dance The Night Away is easily my favorite Van Halen tune and I love blaring this out at 6:30 in the morning when I roll into campus. It really gets the day started off on the right foot.
Springsteen also has a special place in my heart when the days get longer. There are few anthems that sound as powerful on a hot summer night as Badlands, or even the happy-go-lucky Waitin’ On A Sunny Day. The Boss brings it like few others do, and I love the guy for it. Of course, there’s one group that absolutely defines summer for me like no other, and that group is none other than…
…AC/DC. When I started playing guitar I got myself an Epiphone SG because I wanted to play just like Angus Young. AC/DC has been playing the same song for almost forty years but I can’t stop loving it. Their live “If You Want Blood…” album is in my top ten all-time favorites and always announces that the weather is starting to turn for me. I’ll never not love AC/DC, deal with it.
So there you are, Binge readers. I made up for last week with an overlong ode to all things I like. Is it narcissistic? Definitely, but that’s why I have this blog and you don’t. Deal with it. Check in for some GameCast, GoTCast and our daily blogs as well as Fuckin’ Bob’s week-by-week script for the upcoming DOG SPIDERS, and as always, Binge On!