To: laurapatricia.co.uk
Yes, that's right faithful readers, I have my own dedicated website now! I would like to thank you all for coming here and reading my thoughts and musings, and hope you will continue to do so at the new location. See you there!
Monday, 8 February 2010
Saturday, 30 January 2010
The Cleveland Show Review
I am about to do something I thought I would never do - bash the genius of Seth MacFarlane! (I justify this in my head by arguing that technically The Cleveland Show is actually very little to do with Seth, and is more the brainchild of Mike Henry; Seth is only implicated by involvement and association, rather than being the creator of the show.) But I am indeed about to do it, so brace yourselves folks!
The much talked about Cleveland Show finally comes to the UK on E4 this week. I have to confess that I cheated and watched the first five episodes of Season 1 on the internet a while ago, so I know what’s coming. And I have to say that I wasn’t much impressed.
Aside from the first five minutes of the Pilot (which was television gold, and included the cast of Family Guy and Cleveland’s farewell to them all), The Cleveland Show just didn’t do anything for me. Sure, it has a catchy theme tune which gets stuck in your head for days, but the characters are stock cliches, and the jokes are utterly forgettable. Even Seth’s character, Tim the Bear, didn’t bring enough to the show to make it worth going back for more. And when I don’t want more of Seth, something somewhere has gone horribly wrong!
Don’t misunderstand me; The Cleveland Show is a decent way to kill half an hour. It’s not bad, it makes you smile at times and it’s solid in terms of animation and writing quality. But I expected more. It’s not groundbreaking. Without the association with the Family Guy crew, and the curious fanbase like myself that that could promise, it probably wouldn’t have been picked up by the networks; and it probably won’t hold its own that long. It’s just not Frasier. It is, in fact, effectively, Family Guy again.
Which is what some people have said about American Dad - but they’re wrong. American Dad is much more political, it has a different tone; it has a set of truly unique and individual characters and stories to tell. It doesn’t reference pop culture as much, and it has done away with all the cutaways, segways and flashbacks that are Family Guy’s signature. It is it’s own show, and it stands alone without leaning on Family Guy at all.
But The Cleveland Show is the same format and style as Family Guy; cutaways, celebrity insults, rude jokes. (Ruder jokes, even, if possible - the town where Cleveland and co live is called ‘Stoolbend’ and all that that implies.) But while Family Guy makes this work by having an awesome collection of characters and story lines interwoven around these, Cleveland lacks those elements. The characters are American cardboard cut outs - the spunky grown up before her time teenager, the ‘redneck’ judgmental hick, the slow talking neighbour next door - and the plots are sitcom staples that are so over worn that there are holes in the elbows and knees.
There is even a bar in Stoolbend where the four male characters on the show go to hang out and shoot the breeze. ‘Ext. establishing shot of bar, with amusing neon sign and pub name; cut to booth inside where Cleveland, a fat bear, a skinny White Guy and a short, well-built White guy are sitting, drinking beer from glass mugs.’ Sound familiar? I thought so. But while I don’t really miss Cleveland too much when I watch such scenes in Family Guy now, I do miss Peter, Joe and Quagmire when I watch The Cleveland Show.
And that’s the rub I guess; it’s Family Guy, but without the elements and people of Family Guy that we know and love. Of all the characters they could have given a spin off too, I don’t see why Cleveland was the one to get it - aside from obvious career aspirations on the part of Mike Henry, who created the character and happens to be one of Seth’s best friends as well.. I don’t really see why a spin off was necessary at all. Fox did pick it up for a second season before the first one had even aired though, so they must see a financial potential for it. But I personally don’t see this one lasting long. I certainly won’t be watching, and if you can’t even get a hard core fan like me to tune in to your ‘other show’, you’re probably better off directing your efforts into the original.
The much talked about Cleveland Show finally comes to the UK on E4 this week. I have to confess that I cheated and watched the first five episodes of Season 1 on the internet a while ago, so I know what’s coming. And I have to say that I wasn’t much impressed.
Aside from the first five minutes of the Pilot (which was television gold, and included the cast of Family Guy and Cleveland’s farewell to them all), The Cleveland Show just didn’t do anything for me. Sure, it has a catchy theme tune which gets stuck in your head for days, but the characters are stock cliches, and the jokes are utterly forgettable. Even Seth’s character, Tim the Bear, didn’t bring enough to the show to make it worth going back for more. And when I don’t want more of Seth, something somewhere has gone horribly wrong!
Don’t misunderstand me; The Cleveland Show is a decent way to kill half an hour. It’s not bad, it makes you smile at times and it’s solid in terms of animation and writing quality. But I expected more. It’s not groundbreaking. Without the association with the Family Guy crew, and the curious fanbase like myself that that could promise, it probably wouldn’t have been picked up by the networks; and it probably won’t hold its own that long. It’s just not Frasier. It is, in fact, effectively, Family Guy again.
Which is what some people have said about American Dad - but they’re wrong. American Dad is much more political, it has a different tone; it has a set of truly unique and individual characters and stories to tell. It doesn’t reference pop culture as much, and it has done away with all the cutaways, segways and flashbacks that are Family Guy’s signature. It is it’s own show, and it stands alone without leaning on Family Guy at all.
But The Cleveland Show is the same format and style as Family Guy; cutaways, celebrity insults, rude jokes. (Ruder jokes, even, if possible - the town where Cleveland and co live is called ‘Stoolbend’ and all that that implies.) But while Family Guy makes this work by having an awesome collection of characters and story lines interwoven around these, Cleveland lacks those elements. The characters are American cardboard cut outs - the spunky grown up before her time teenager, the ‘redneck’ judgmental hick, the slow talking neighbour next door - and the plots are sitcom staples that are so over worn that there are holes in the elbows and knees.
There is even a bar in Stoolbend where the four male characters on the show go to hang out and shoot the breeze. ‘Ext. establishing shot of bar, with amusing neon sign and pub name; cut to booth inside where Cleveland, a fat bear, a skinny White Guy and a short, well-built White guy are sitting, drinking beer from glass mugs.’ Sound familiar? I thought so. But while I don’t really miss Cleveland too much when I watch such scenes in Family Guy now, I do miss Peter, Joe and Quagmire when I watch The Cleveland Show.
And that’s the rub I guess; it’s Family Guy, but without the elements and people of Family Guy that we know and love. Of all the characters they could have given a spin off too, I don’t see why Cleveland was the one to get it - aside from obvious career aspirations on the part of Mike Henry, who created the character and happens to be one of Seth’s best friends as well.. I don’t really see why a spin off was necessary at all. Fox did pick it up for a second season before the first one had even aired though, so they must see a financial potential for it. But I personally don’t see this one lasting long. I certainly won’t be watching, and if you can’t even get a hard core fan like me to tune in to your ‘other show’, you’re probably better off directing your efforts into the original.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
You're in love. We get it.
Now stop gushing all over the internet about it!
Oh dear. I appear to have started some sort of Facebook feud... But hey, at least it's not another blog about banking!
Last night, after yet another one of my acquaintances came out of the woodwork and admitted that a mutual friend’s status updates of the past few weeks have been making them want to gag every time they log in, I did something I never thought I would do, and started a statement-making Facebook group. The gist of my group – “You’re in love. We get it. Now stop gushing all over the internet about it!” – is pretty much self explanatory. We’ve all seen them at one point or another; we all went “aww” the first few times, but now we just roll our eyes.
You know who you are, and you know you do it. I’m sure none of your friends or family begrudges you any happiness, and we are all, sincerely and honestly, really glad you’ve found that special someone. But PLEASE stop spewing that ‘love’ all over our homepages! No one is trying to be a killjoy, but we really don’t care if your girlfriend is “the sweetest thing since cotton candy” or that your boyfriend “makes cute little squeaking noises when he’s dreaming”. We especially don’t want to see another ‘taken at arm’s length on my mobile while lying on the sofa cuddling’ profile shot. You’re giving us all diabetes.
Anyone who agrees with the above statement is more than welcome to join my group. But what is really interesting is that, less than 12 hours later, a counter-statement-making group appeared. Now, I won’t give them any free publicity by naming them, but they (all, thus far, five of them) feel that if we don’t like it, we can just ignore it. Well, yes, fair point, but we can’t really, can we? Facebook, marvel and hindrance both that it is, is designed to throw such things up at us, to keep us informed and let us know what is going on in the world. Just as the creator of that group saw mine and responded to it, so I see your statues and “I miss my wuvvly boyfrwiend vewwy vewwy much” fan pages on a daily basis, and I respond to them - by wrinkling my nose in disdain. Yes, I could block you, but that’s not very friendly now is it?
And, for the record, I’m not talking about the odd, one off, “So and so had a good day out with their other half” kind of statuses. Even I put my hands up and admit to being guilty of those. Nor am I talking about putting that you are in a relationship with someone on Facebook (so long as your status doesn’t switch and change like a yoyo...). I am talking about the ‘too much information’, mushy, twee, over the top and constant sort of spew that some people are capable of. No one wants to see that, guys and gals, except maybe the one person you’re referring to. (And they invented the private message function on Facebook for a reason you know!)
This blog entry is also going in Pugwash Isse 36, but I thought I'd share it with you lot first. We’d love to know what you all think about this. Should the love be shared, anywhere and everywhere, regardless of how nauseating it may be? Is social network gushing the new level of unacceptable PDA? Should I be writing an essay right now instead of wasting time making statements on Facebook? (Perhaps (not); I would argue so; and yes, yes, I really should!) But let me know. Join my group (or the other one, if you absolutely must) – but better yet, drop us a line: comment@upsu.net
Oh dear. I appear to have started some sort of Facebook feud... But hey, at least it's not another blog about banking!
Last night, after yet another one of my acquaintances came out of the woodwork and admitted that a mutual friend’s status updates of the past few weeks have been making them want to gag every time they log in, I did something I never thought I would do, and started a statement-making Facebook group. The gist of my group – “You’re in love. We get it. Now stop gushing all over the internet about it!” – is pretty much self explanatory. We’ve all seen them at one point or another; we all went “aww” the first few times, but now we just roll our eyes.
You know who you are, and you know you do it. I’m sure none of your friends or family begrudges you any happiness, and we are all, sincerely and honestly, really glad you’ve found that special someone. But PLEASE stop spewing that ‘love’ all over our homepages! No one is trying to be a killjoy, but we really don’t care if your girlfriend is “the sweetest thing since cotton candy” or that your boyfriend “makes cute little squeaking noises when he’s dreaming”. We especially don’t want to see another ‘taken at arm’s length on my mobile while lying on the sofa cuddling’ profile shot. You’re giving us all diabetes.
Anyone who agrees with the above statement is more than welcome to join my group. But what is really interesting is that, less than 12 hours later, a counter-statement-making group appeared. Now, I won’t give them any free publicity by naming them, but they (all, thus far, five of them) feel that if we don’t like it, we can just ignore it. Well, yes, fair point, but we can’t really, can we? Facebook, marvel and hindrance both that it is, is designed to throw such things up at us, to keep us informed and let us know what is going on in the world. Just as the creator of that group saw mine and responded to it, so I see your statues and “I miss my wuvvly boyfrwiend vewwy vewwy much” fan pages on a daily basis, and I respond to them - by wrinkling my nose in disdain. Yes, I could block you, but that’s not very friendly now is it?
And, for the record, I’m not talking about the odd, one off, “So and so had a good day out with their other half” kind of statuses. Even I put my hands up and admit to being guilty of those. Nor am I talking about putting that you are in a relationship with someone on Facebook (so long as your status doesn’t switch and change like a yoyo...). I am talking about the ‘too much information’, mushy, twee, over the top and constant sort of spew that some people are capable of. No one wants to see that, guys and gals, except maybe the one person you’re referring to. (And they invented the private message function on Facebook for a reason you know!)
This blog entry is also going in Pugwash Isse 36, but I thought I'd share it with you lot first. We’d love to know what you all think about this. Should the love be shared, anywhere and everywhere, regardless of how nauseating it may be? Is social network gushing the new level of unacceptable PDA? Should I be writing an essay right now instead of wasting time making statements on Facebook? (Perhaps (not); I would argue so; and yes, yes, I really should!) But let me know. Join my group (or the other one, if you absolutely must) – but better yet, drop us a line: comment@upsu.net
Saturday, 23 January 2010
On the folly of banks
I have now done two things this week that I haven’t done since November: used an ATM machine, and written a blog! (Did you miss me guys? Even just a little bit?)
The lack of blogging I can only apologise for, as I promised I wouldn’t do any more. Between deadlines, Pugwash, friends and the holidays I just didn’t find the time to sit down and say anything – but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have anything interesting to say. It’s been a crazy couple of months, let me tell you. Or rather not, or this will become an essay, and it’s really just supposed to be a quick little hello to get me back in the habit.
As for the lack of ATM-ing, well that really wasn’t my fault, or my choice. My debit card expired in November, and I assumed that my bank would send me a new one, as they have done in the past. (Why it expires at all is beyond me – my account doesn’t change at all, nor do my services, and the card still works, so why cancel it and waste energy and plastic sending me a new one? Tch.) But they didn’t. Or rather, they assured me they had, via the good old Royal Mail, but I have still yet to see any evidence of this. So, I was debit card-less for a while.
Thankfully, I have this quirky habit of taking out £100 at the beginning of every month as ‘petty cash’ for that period (I only allow myself £20/£25 a week, which works quite well) and I had done this just before the card killed itself. So, I was fine for a while, living off of that and my wonderful MasterCard when need be. And then I went home for the holidays and could mooch off of the ‘Bank of Dad’, who gave me my monthly allowance in cash rather than by direct debit. All good stuff.
But the last two weeks haven’t been so rosy. I had decided not to kick up a fuss before Xmas – just to wait and see if the replacement card ever arrived. But when I got back in January and it still hadn’t, I had a problem. The cash was running out, and the credit card was reaching its maxed out point. I even had to use my emergency backup credit card at Tesco last week. So I went to HSBC, talked to them about it and it transpired I could have a new card sent straight to my branch within three working days.
Huzzah, right? Wrong. They would only send the card to the branch where I had opened the account – in Aberdeen. Some 450 miles away. Very helpful, thanks. But, there was a way to then transfer it to Portsmouth via internal mail – I just had to listen to about 30 minutes of menu options and hold music before getting through to somebody in a call centre in Timbuktu... Anyways, in the end, I got it sorted, and yesterday I went to pick up my card. It looked exactly like the old one. It had the exact same details as the old one. It even had the same PIN as the old one. All the hassle was totally worth it.
With just £5 in loose change in my wallet, I activated it there and then and marched to the nearest ATM. I withdrew £30 just because I could. Buttons, boop noises, beautiful £10 notes! Oh, I tell you people, it’s amazing what you take for granted...
I am, of course, being gloriously sarcastic. But it was the most recent event I could think to blog about – perhaps indicative of my social life the past few weeks! But now, with all of us having a bit more free time and the start of Semester 2 imminent, that will hopefully pick up, and I will be able to better entertain you in the future. Thanks for sticking with me this long! See you soon I hope!
The lack of blogging I can only apologise for, as I promised I wouldn’t do any more. Between deadlines, Pugwash, friends and the holidays I just didn’t find the time to sit down and say anything – but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have anything interesting to say. It’s been a crazy couple of months, let me tell you. Or rather not, or this will become an essay, and it’s really just supposed to be a quick little hello to get me back in the habit.
As for the lack of ATM-ing, well that really wasn’t my fault, or my choice. My debit card expired in November, and I assumed that my bank would send me a new one, as they have done in the past. (Why it expires at all is beyond me – my account doesn’t change at all, nor do my services, and the card still works, so why cancel it and waste energy and plastic sending me a new one? Tch.) But they didn’t. Or rather, they assured me they had, via the good old Royal Mail, but I have still yet to see any evidence of this. So, I was debit card-less for a while.
Thankfully, I have this quirky habit of taking out £100 at the beginning of every month as ‘petty cash’ for that period (I only allow myself £20/£25 a week, which works quite well) and I had done this just before the card killed itself. So, I was fine for a while, living off of that and my wonderful MasterCard when need be. And then I went home for the holidays and could mooch off of the ‘Bank of Dad’, who gave me my monthly allowance in cash rather than by direct debit. All good stuff.
But the last two weeks haven’t been so rosy. I had decided not to kick up a fuss before Xmas – just to wait and see if the replacement card ever arrived. But when I got back in January and it still hadn’t, I had a problem. The cash was running out, and the credit card was reaching its maxed out point. I even had to use my emergency backup credit card at Tesco last week. So I went to HSBC, talked to them about it and it transpired I could have a new card sent straight to my branch within three working days.
Huzzah, right? Wrong. They would only send the card to the branch where I had opened the account – in Aberdeen. Some 450 miles away. Very helpful, thanks. But, there was a way to then transfer it to Portsmouth via internal mail – I just had to listen to about 30 minutes of menu options and hold music before getting through to somebody in a call centre in Timbuktu... Anyways, in the end, I got it sorted, and yesterday I went to pick up my card. It looked exactly like the old one. It had the exact same details as the old one. It even had the same PIN as the old one. All the hassle was totally worth it.
With just £5 in loose change in my wallet, I activated it there and then and marched to the nearest ATM. I withdrew £30 just because I could. Buttons, boop noises, beautiful £10 notes! Oh, I tell you people, it’s amazing what you take for granted...
I am, of course, being gloriously sarcastic. But it was the most recent event I could think to blog about – perhaps indicative of my social life the past few weeks! But now, with all of us having a bit more free time and the start of Semester 2 imminent, that will hopefully pick up, and I will be able to better entertain you in the future. Thanks for sticking with me this long! See you soon I hope!
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Family Guy Season 8 Review
No time to blog properly, still, but the updates from Laura-land are that life is hectic, going much as can be expected, and that I have become one of THOSE people in proud possession of a BlackBerry. But I have a Family Guy review for you to read:
Anyone who knows me knows I am an obsessive Family Guy fan. So it will come as no surprise to them that I have had this item on pre-order since May. Or that I am about to sing the praises of Seth MacFarlane once again.
If you have not yet discovered that the bird is the word, I highly recommend this DVD set. Remember that this was a show that was historically cancelled and then resurrected by DVD sales, and spend your money generously.
In return, you’ll get 13 new episodes, including plenty of gags and sequences cut from TV; with “all the poops and farts and nudity intact”, as Peter would put it. There are also, for the hardcore nerds like me, commentaries on each episode, deleted scenes, and even a behind the scenes tour of the production offices which will make wannabe sitcom writers drool in envy!
Season 8 really offers nothing new, just more of the same characters and laughs you know and love. This will be the last season to feature Cleveland (before he leaves for his spin off) and I don’t want to give anything away, but this might also be the last we see of the un-funny Evil Monkey for a while. Plus, Bonnie next door FINALLY has her baby! High points include Peter adopting a new dog to replace an aging Brian, Stewie’s time machine, and the return of the inimitable James Woods.
If you’re a regular viewer or if you just enjoy quirky insult humour, then Season 8 will not disappoint.
But, this just isn’t them at their very best. The jokes have gotten less clever and more in your face. Perhaps this is just because I have been watching more American Dad lately, but the cutaways and setups seem clunky and contrived; and it seems like the plot is getting more and more far fetched in the search for more outrageous humour. What used to be hilariously esoteric sometimes now seems merely vaguely random.
When insulting celebrities, it is the same ones who take the hits time after time, and occasionally the crude jokes go just that little bit too far. Some of them make it patently clear why they were unacceptable for mainstream TV, and with good reason, says the little bit of a prude left in me. Also, some gags seem to go on a tad too long at times, as though the writers didn’t know how to end it and just kept going, even though the joke and the punch-line have both already been hit. But then again, as Brian put it: “If you don’t like it, go complain on the Internet”...
If you’re a big fan or a semi-interested viewer, then this is new material to satisfy you. And it’s laugh out loud funny at times. But if you’re new to the show, or trying to sell it on someone, seasons 3/4/5 are much better samples to turn to. Worth having around the house though, and I’m still in love enough to have told my Amazon account to email me the second Season 9 goes on sale!
Anyone who knows me knows I am an obsessive Family Guy fan. So it will come as no surprise to them that I have had this item on pre-order since May. Or that I am about to sing the praises of Seth MacFarlane once again.
If you have not yet discovered that the bird is the word, I highly recommend this DVD set. Remember that this was a show that was historically cancelled and then resurrected by DVD sales, and spend your money generously.
In return, you’ll get 13 new episodes, including plenty of gags and sequences cut from TV; with “all the poops and farts and nudity intact”, as Peter would put it. There are also, for the hardcore nerds like me, commentaries on each episode, deleted scenes, and even a behind the scenes tour of the production offices which will make wannabe sitcom writers drool in envy!
Season 8 really offers nothing new, just more of the same characters and laughs you know and love. This will be the last season to feature Cleveland (before he leaves for his spin off) and I don’t want to give anything away, but this might also be the last we see of the un-funny Evil Monkey for a while. Plus, Bonnie next door FINALLY has her baby! High points include Peter adopting a new dog to replace an aging Brian, Stewie’s time machine, and the return of the inimitable James Woods.
If you’re a regular viewer or if you just enjoy quirky insult humour, then Season 8 will not disappoint.
But, this just isn’t them at their very best. The jokes have gotten less clever and more in your face. Perhaps this is just because I have been watching more American Dad lately, but the cutaways and setups seem clunky and contrived; and it seems like the plot is getting more and more far fetched in the search for more outrageous humour. What used to be hilariously esoteric sometimes now seems merely vaguely random.
When insulting celebrities, it is the same ones who take the hits time after time, and occasionally the crude jokes go just that little bit too far. Some of them make it patently clear why they were unacceptable for mainstream TV, and with good reason, says the little bit of a prude left in me. Also, some gags seem to go on a tad too long at times, as though the writers didn’t know how to end it and just kept going, even though the joke and the punch-line have both already been hit. But then again, as Brian put it: “If you don’t like it, go complain on the Internet”...
If you’re a big fan or a semi-interested viewer, then this is new material to satisfy you. And it’s laugh out loud funny at times. But if you’re new to the show, or trying to sell it on someone, seasons 3/4/5 are much better samples to turn to. Worth having around the house though, and I’m still in love enough to have told my Amazon account to email me the second Season 9 goes on sale!
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