Proctor Orthopedic (2011)

Central States Media is an agency that came to the media production company that I work for, Water Street Media Works, and asked us to help create a TV commercial as part of their larger campaign for Proctor Hospital in Peoria Illinois.

The animation itself is very complex. Each piece was hand drawn, cut out, painted and then scanned into the computer even before the animation even began. This is my second TV commercial ever.

83rd Academy Awards

I did this lame joke last year so here it is again. Before the award ceremony aired, my original prediction for the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2010…

I wish someone would use Inception on me because it is a real Fighter for me to choose The Best Picture of 2010 because after 127 Hour I have True Grit for using The Social Network to tell everyone my King’s Speech about how The kids Are All Right playing with their Toy Story 3 different Black Swans. Winter’s Bone sucks.

As for the Academy Award Ceremony itself, the best two parts were the beginning montage of all the best picture nominees in a countdown to the music from The Social Network. And then the end were they did montage of a count of of all the best picture nominees to The King’s Speech final speech.

83rd Academy Awards Opening Montage
(I can’t find)

83rd Academy Awards Closing Montage

30 Rock Live!

30 Rock went live tonight on the set of Saturday Night Live. Now in its 5th season, NBC appears to have started having some faith in a show that just makes fun of the network. The sexy librarian Tina Fey, the crazy in real life Tracy Morgan, the oldest of the Baldwin brothers, and many others are use to doing live performances on SNL. So a live 30 Rock is a walk in the park for most of them.

The show opens with Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) making fun of the visual look of the current show since its broadcast live instead of being filmed. Even though the show is live, they did not cut any corners. The show did not lose any of its surreal and random humor, including quick cut always to past events, which featured Liz Lemon played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus due to “Seinfeld Money”. They take advantage of it being live by making fun of current events, like the Chilean Miners, and Brett Favre.

SNL alum and 30 Rock alum from season one, Rachel Dratch returns along with Chris Parnell as Dr. Leo Spaceman (pronounced /spəˈtʃɛmɨn/). Also making a guest appearance was Liz Lemon’s former boyfriend, played by the mantastic Jon Hamm from Mad Men. And the only possible couple that looks more perfectly beautiful than Tina Fay and Jon Hamm, Matt Damon appears as Liz’s current boyfriend. But Bill Hader of SNL had to confess his love for Matt Damon.

If there was anything wrong with there show, there was not enough Judah Friedlander and Jack McBrayer. But all the guest stars made up for that. The cast will do the show twice, once for the east coast and once west coast. Both will be up online at NBC.com and everywhere else on the internet within hours. They do have two and a half hours to reset and get ready between the two broadcasts.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars. Its live and they are doing it twice.

★★★★★

82nd Academy Awards Retrospective

During the week running up to the Academy Awards, from all the buzz by everyone about The Hurt Locker, I predicted it to win Best Picture. Even though I still wanted Up In The Air to win because that was my personal favorite out of the 10 films. My original Academy Award for Best Picture of 2009 prediction…

All the Inglourious Basterds who were Blind Sided by Avatar’s visuals are not A Serious Man and should grow Up and get An Education or should be thrown into The Hurt Locker inside District 9 because the Best Picture of 2009 is still Up In The Air because the honor is very Precious: Based On The Novel Push by Sapphire.

As for the show itself, the 82nd Academy Awards honoring the best films of 2009 was held last night. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin co-hosted the awards. The duo were mainly funny when they roasted celebrates at the start of the show. During last years 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, Tina Fey and Steve Martin presented an award and that is when I wished for the two to host together in the near future. I guess Tina Fey’s 30 Rock co-star Alec Baldwin is the next best choice. After hosting the last years Emmys and having a dance number on his own show, everyone’s favorite Neil Patrick Harris opened this years Academy Awards with a dance number.

As for the awards themselves, I am very happy of the winners. Everyone won an award that deserved it. Up won for Best Animated Feature. Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for Inglourious Basterds. Like I said in my review, his character is an instant classic and his evilness over shadowed even Hitler. Mo’Nique won for Precious: Based On the Novel Push By Sapphire. Simply one of the most stomach turning roles I have ever watched. Jeff Bridges won Best Actor for Crazy Heart. I have yet to view the film, but his praise for the role and his winning has inspired me to watch it. Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for The Blind Side. It was not my favorite film of the year, but she deserved the award. Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director for The Hurt Locker. And Finally, The Hurt Locker won Best Picture. I think it deserved to win even though it might have not been my top choice for Best Film of the year. I did think it was much stronger than the majority of the 10. I am happy that it beat out Avatar for both Best Director and for Best Picture. Many people thought Avatar might win Best Picture, which I felt was a much weaker film. Avatar ended up only winning three out of its nine nominations. Avatar won the awards it deserved because all three awards were specifically about its visuals, which is the only substance the film has.

I noticed many connections between the 10 Best Picture nominees.

There were many films about war.

• Avatar
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds

Spoiler Alert, two different films featured the exact same twist ending.

• Up In The Air
• An Education

A rarity in Hollywood, there were films that focused on Jewish people.

• Inglourious Basterds
• An Education
• A Serious Man

Two films were about young poor African American children wishing for a better life.

• The Blind Side
• Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire.

There were many films that had elements about Education.

• Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire
• The Blind Side
• An Education, blatantly by the title alone.
• Up featured a boy who is trying to get an education by earning merit badges.

Avatar and District 9 were basically the exact same film, hitting many of the same beats.

• They both were about Man versus Aliens.
• The main character is a man that ends up turning into an alien.
• The main character as an alien turns on man because they become evil.
• The final climactic scene features the main character fighting the main villain, with one in a giant robot suit.

All 10 films feature a sex scene.

• Avatar featured the Na’vi aliens having weird pony tail sex.
• The Blind Side featured, well, Sandra Bollock’s character had kids somehow.
• District 9 featured a fake Photoshopped image of the main character have sex with an alien.
• An Education, Spoiler Alert, they have sex.
• The Hurt Locker did not have a sex scene, but featured Evangeline Lilly, who is sexy enough.
• Inglourious Baserds features a two second long sex scene.
• Precious, well, lets just say no one is looking forward to that scene again.
• A Serious Man, featured a dream sequence where the main character has sex.
• Up featured a sad miscarriage at the beginning. The baby had to be created somehow.
• Up In The Air featured Vera Farmiga’s naked body.

All 10 films dealt with xenophobia.

• Once Again Inglourious Basterds, An Education, A Serious Man, all focused on xenophobia of Jewish people.
• Avatar and District 9 focus on Man being xenophobia agents Aliens.
• The Blind Side and Precious had elements of xenophobia of African Americans.
• The Hurt Locker featured elements of xenopobia of Iraqis.
• Up In the Air featured only white people except for a single African American, who of course rapped.
• Up, all old people are of course racist, and it was clear that original the old man was upset that the little fat asian kid joined him on his adventure.

The 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother was legen- wait for it…

…-dary! How I Met Your Mother celebrated its 100th episode with a comedic driven, Mother teasing, suit wearing, dance spectacular!

Lets start with this episode’s secondary plot. Barney struggles with hooking up with a bartender while Marshall, Lily and Robin fight over if the bartender is actually hot or not. Robin says its only circumstantial hotness because she is behind a bar. This results in Robin sneaking behind the bar and for a small moment, during which she becomes extremely irresistible. Meanwhile, Barney, played by NPH, normally has no troubles suiting up and getting with the ladies. But this time his two favorite things, girls and suits, conflict with each other because the bartender hates men who wear suits. Barney’s story concluded in a climatic dance number joined by the rest of the cast, about Girls Versus Suits, titled “Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit“.

Now for the main plot of Ted Mosby’s continuing struggles to tell the simple story to his kids of “How I Met Your Mother“. Finally, in the 100th episode, everyone gets to meet the person we have been anticipating since the first episode. That’s right, we all finally met the Mother’s roommate. The missed opportunity of this episode being called “How I Met Your Mother’s Roommate” actually resulted with a great comedic and engaging story. At the start of the episode Ted Mosby meets Cindy, played by cute Rachel Bilson. Due to the unreliable narrator and clever writing of the show we are led to believe that Ted has finally met the Mother. A quarter through the episode they flip it on us and reveal that she is not the Mother but instead the true Mother’s current roommate. The twist was introduced when present Ted, in 2010, picks up a little yellow bus and future Ted tells his children that that was the first time he saw the bus that is currently on the shelf behind them in 2030. Major props, pun intended, to the writers to think to include a prop in the story that has been in the future 2030 scene of Ted talking to his children since season 1. After Ted picks up the bus, Cindy quickly explains that it is not her little yellow bus, but in fact her roommate’s. Sadly that is when we learn that Cindy is not the Mother but lucky for us she is fully willing to explain what kind of person the true Mother is.

Cindy has a roommate complex because she always fears that her roommate will steal her boyfriend, (which she, obviously, eventually does). Ted promises that he will never fall in love with her roommate, (which he will). On the date Cindy can’t stop talking about her roommate. Cindy tries to explain the weird things her roommate does but Ted loves all of them. The Mother making paintings of robots playing sports and also likes making breakfast food sing show tunes. Future Ted says that in 2030 the robot volleyball watercolor is currently in the den and the Mother’s rendition of “Memory” by an English muffin is the most hauntingly beautiful thing he as ever heard.

Since Ted is a teacher at the same university Cindy is attending as a student, she stops her relationship with Ted, even though he does not have her as a student and they are not even in the same department. She has a scholarship and does not want to lose it if something happens. The true Mother also goes to the same university but she might not be so concerned about the strict university rules or have a scholarship to worry about. Plus, Ted wants to ignore the rules with Cindy, so of course he will want to ignore them when he finally meets the love of his life. As far as we know, Ted and the Mother might not even meet for another few years so they could both have finished working or attending the university.

In 2010, however, Ted does not want to give up on Cindy so he goes to her apartment in the rain with the yellow umbrella. When he gets there Cindy says her roommate is in the shower so they talk in Cindy’s room. As Ted tries to get back together with Cindy, he tries to find things in her room they have in common or that he finds interesting. He ends up picking the only three things in the room that are her roommates, showing that his true love and future wife is only a few feet away. Ted picked up the roommate’s album that Cindy is borrowing, “Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone” by The Unicorns, and Ted has never met anyone who owns the album. The roommate liked World’s End by TC Boyle enough to give a copy to her roommate, which Ted also liked. The roommate also plays bass in a band and Ted says his ideal woman plays bass. Ted leaves Cindy’s room defeated, as they decide that he is clearly not into Cindy. He ends up not meeting the woman of his dreams that night, but happens to see a glimpse of her foot as enters her bedroom from the bathroom. Ted leaves the apartment and forgets the yellow umbrella, inadvertently leaving it with the original owner.

It was a great episode overall but I am a little disappointed that Rachel Bilson does not play the Mother. She would have been great in the role but I am assuming she does not want to commit to a TV series. I hope Rachel Bilson does show up in more episodes as the Mother’s roommate because she would be an interesting side story until Ted finally meets the true Mother.

Californication and Dexter season finales

Showtime’s two starring bad boys had their season finales last night. No matter how many bad things these guys do, everyone can not help but love them, and their shocking season finales only leave you wanting more mischief.

Californication is not one of my favorite shows of all time like Dexter is. I am only teaming these two shows into one post instead of two due to the fact I don’t want to spoil either finales, so lack of content to talk about. I had only started watching Californication right before the start of this season. It has grown on me, each season better than the last. The third season had some really great comedic episodes with a nice amount of drama sprinkled throughout the season to make it the best season so far. The season three finale had a more dramatic tone with a story that spanned all three seasons and concluding with a shocking final scene. David Duchovny plays the main character, sex addicted Hank Moody, who always gets himself into situations but always smoothly manages to get out out them. The finale deals with a long running situation Hank started in the first episode of the series and had to deal with for the past three seasons. Everything finally spirals out of his control and for the first time, Hank may not get out of it. I have no clue what to expect from season four, but the series has taken itself into an interesting direction.

The season four finale of Dexter was fast paced, shocking and emotional. Of course they wrapped up the main plot of season four but they also had a good subplot that was building up from four seasons worth of content, calling back to many elements, especially season one. Like always, Dexter’s finale narrative was amazing with many twists and turns and another shocking final scene. This scene was completely unpredictable and extremely emotional. I will admit that I cried my eyes out.

Demented Daddy Dexter

The thrilling tale of everyone’s favorite serial killer is back again for the fourth season of Dexter. The Showtime original TV series, based on the Darkly Dreaming Dexter novel, tells the story of Dexter Morgan, a serial killer whose modus operandi is to kill other killers. The narrative and Michael C. Hall‘s portrayal as Dexter are strong, showing him as the lesser of two evils, that you will find yourself supporting the likable serial killer and hoping he does not get caught.

Most seasons of Dexter are setup with a main antagonist, another serial killer who Dexter is trying to hunt down throughout the entire season. Meanwhile, Dexter is satisfying his own personal fix by killing other murderers in almost every episode. Normally, the antagonist is a mystery and stays in the shadows for the majority of the season, but in season four, the opening shot introduces him and shows his face. John Lithgow is The Trinity Killer, one of the most notorious serial killers in the country, who finds himself in Dexter’s town of Miami, Florida. Dishonest detective Dexter is a blood spatter analyst for the Miami police, who discovers clues about the new serial killer in town. Finding and killing the Trinity Killer would be the ultimate trophy in Dexter’s collection, but it will be a race against the Miami police before they find and deal with The Trinity Killer the legal way.

I normally do not like knowing who the main antagonist is in a TV series because it always adds to the compelling mystery. The fact that it is the high profile John Lithgow and seeing his kills from his perspective will balance out the show’s lack of the mystery. The writers always find an interesting new approach to the show each season so Dexter’s character does not get stale. Along with Dexter’s strong competition of The Trinity Killer, Dexter has also become a new father. Family life is distracting daddy Dexter and making him a more clumsy killer, putting him at risk of getting caught.

Dexter season four premiered September 27, 2009. The beginning of the episode was a slow burn of exposition, but ended with a giant cliffhanger of dozing driving Dexter crashing his car. The crash happened after one of Dexter’s kills, leaving the viewer believing there was a severed body in the back of his car. I hope that all of season four can keep up the high impact storytelling that ended of the first episode.

Lost again

Starting the other day, I began to casually re-watch the TV show Lost. I viewed episodes one through four and then a handful of random episodes of season one even though I have already watched the entire series so far. I believe that Lost is the greatest show ever (Yes, a hyperbole, but the show is that good to claim it). Despite the fact that I enjoy the series so much, I have always believed that Lost was a one time watch because of it is strong focus of mysteries that surround every element of the show. Having the insight of five out of the six seasons, I can say that watching the series a second time is just as good as the first. I might know the answers to some of Lost’s major mysteries but I still found myself engrossed by the beginning of the series. This was made clear to me during the fourth episode of the first season Walkabout featuring the first flashback of the character John Locke. I knew exactly what was going to happen but still enjoyed the twist ending and the reactions from the first time viewers.

The reason I am watching Lost again, but not viewing all the episodes, is because my sister Kyle just started watching the show for the first time. She was lucky enough to remain spoiler free for over five years since Lost premiered September 22, 2004. Kyle instantly was hooked and she can not stop watching. She is currently a little more than half way through season one, only a few days after she started. The best part of watching Lost with someone who has never seen the show before is their speculation of all the shows mysteries and knowing almost all the answers yourself. Often their guesses are comically wrong but a few times they get one right.

Watching Lost again with a new viewer is a good way to recap before the sixth and final season that will primer in early 2010. Now that Lost has proven to me it can be watched more than once, I will most likely buy the series when a “complete series” collection comes out in the future.