Arrested Development is a television show too smart for its own good. Luckily the producers cast the bumbling Bluth family so well, that dysfunction is rampant from the start. After watching only the first two episodes, it’s clear this is one of the wittiest shows on TV. Meant to be a mock-u-mentary of sorts, this clever depiction of the Bluth family in all their glory is one of the most refreshing television programs seen in years.
Arrested Development follows the Bluth family, wealthy socialites who see their real estate company crumble after coming under fire from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). George Sr., played by Jeffrey Tambor is the CEO of the Bluth Company and is sent to prison during the first episode. Although he is in prison, he still manages to control and manipulate his family and the company from behind bars. This sets the tone for the remainder of the show as the Bluth family all vie for control of the family fortune and company. Jason Bateman plays Michael Bluth, the most upstanding and driven Bluth, who assumes he will take over his father’s position at the head of the company. Unfortunately for Michael, the rest of his family is also assuming this position. Gob, played by Will Arnett is the oldest Bluth and the most delusional of the bunch. His repeated shortcomings as a magician play out through the first few episodes and provide some of the funniest moments of the show. Gob’s inability to return a frozen dead dove to the magic store and his subsequent attempts to dispose of it, is a work of pure comedy.
Michael’s sister, Lindsay Fúnke (Portia de Rossi) and her husband Tobias Fúnke (David Cross) are perpetually fighting and attempting to one up the other. Tobias is a former professor turned actor whose repeated homosexual faux pas are noticed by everyone but himself. Lindsay on the other hand is lazy after living a life of privilege and excess. Their daughter, Maeby Fúnke, played by Alia Shawkat, and Michael’s son, George Michael (Michael Cera) play estranged cousins whose sex-laced, incest based relationship yields several awkward yet hilarious parts of the show. At one point George Michael is promoted to ‘Mr. Manager’ of the frozen banana stand, and Maeby is forced to help him. His father has only one request for his son after hiring her, “You stay on top of her buddy, do not be afraid to ride her…hard.”
The last two members of the Bluth family are George Sr.’s wife Lucille, played by Jessica Walter and their youngest son Buster (Tony Hale). Lucille is a drunk, who constantly belittles her Spanish-speaking maid and repeatedly tries to thwart Michael’s efforts to save the family business. Buster is a mama’s boy, inept at any sort of social situation due to his reliance on Lucille and inability to interact with people without having a panic-attack. This combination of personalities is the perfect mix of characters; fueling constant bickering, arson, extortion, and overall dysfunction.
Without these actors providing such memorable portrayals, Arrested Development, would not be the show it is. That being said though, the intelligent and gifted writing of creator Mitchell Hurwitz is what really drives this show. The interactions between the family members and the tricky situations they find themselves in bear hilarious outcomes. When George Michael and his father burn down the banana stand in the second episode, despite warnings from George Sr. that, ‘there is always money in the banana stand,’ it perpetuates the hysterical nature of this television show.
Furthermore, the style of this show as a kind of reality show meets documentary meets sitcom is unlike any other show I have ever seen. This combination of elements is extremely distinctive from most other programs on television today. The show’s narrator, Ron Howard, and his omnipresenence is another thing that makes this show so smart. Howard is always there to quickly clarify any lies or misconceptions a member of the Bluth family may have just been spouting. The addition of still photos, home movies, newspaper headlines, and flashbacks are used to explain any past actions or events are meant to tie up any loose ends unclear to the audience.
Arrested Development succeeds where most shows fail. It is fresh, funny, and stars some of the most talented actors on television today. It’s hard to say where Arrested Development will stand in the current list of television shows, but it seems as if this show has potential to be around for a long while.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Larry Gallagher
If there is one word to sum up Larry Gallagher’s sophomore album, Can I Go Now?, it would have to be ‘simple.’ Don’t jump to any conclusions just yet though, because beneath the minimal exterior is the work of a sincere, honest musician. A glance at the album art will immediately show you that Gallagher is an individual. He is seen standing in a boat full of instruments, stranded on the beach looking rather confused. This cover accurately follows what I was felt before I started to listen because the song titles alone were random and rather obscure.
Gallagher is not one to take himself very seriously though, evident from the titles he chose for the songs off this album. Each song title accurately reflects exactly what he is about to sing about. The opening track, ‘TV is Your Friend,’ covers the concept that our society is weirdly obsessed with the television. He is mostly accurate given that those who lack friends can always look to a television for some sort of twisted companionship. Likewise in the song, ‘Try Not to Think About Bugs,’ Gallagher sings all about trying not to think about bugs. While there is a bigger message to all of his songs, on the surface each track becomes very predictable once you read the title is. After listening through this album one time, it really irritated me how obvious each track was in relation to the title because I couldn’t get over how uncomplicated his music seemed. Upon reading further into Gallagher’s background though, the combinations of instruments and song selection began to show through.
Tracks feature mainly the guitar and piano, and most contain variations of bass, organ, horns, and a Wurlitzer. If you are someone who really enjoys a heavy bass or drum beat in his or her music, this may not be the album for you. Larry Gallagher’s influence is California, or what I would coin ‘surfer rock,’ His sound is laid back and effortless, similar to the artist Mason Jennings. Choruses are repeated frequently and almost every track is around three minutes in length, give or take. According to his website, Gallagher has spent much of his life wandering between vocations, even joining a Buddhist Monastery at one point in his life. Can I Go Now?, definitely is evidence of this vagabond lifestyle due to each track’s ability to cover miscellaneous life topics in such a straightforward manner. From ‘Me and William Shakespeare,’ a song about what Gallagher might say to Shakespeare if he ever got the chance to drink a few beers with him; to ‘I’m Sorry for What My People Did to Your People,’ an honest attempt at remorse for what I see as a direct correlation to the genocide of Native Americans prior to and during the settlement of America. What was refreshing after listening for a while was that his songs were not all about women, or falling in love. There is a time and place for these kinds of ballads, including tracks five and ten, but it was nice to hear him not go over the top into this expected theme.
Running just around 45 minutes in length, Can I Go Now?, is straightforward, yet packs a lot of punch. Gallagher tackles tough subjects like existentialism in the track, ‘My God is Better than your God,’ and the tried and true concept that as generations go by, the youth only become more promiscuous as explained, ‘Horny Teen Sluts.’ By far the most entertaining song on this album is, ‘I’m Deep.’ In this song, Gallagher’s sarcasm bleeds through so transparently I couldn’t help but laugh throughout the whole song when I hear lyrics like, “No hope, no help, I’m free of wealth how can you control yourself? I’M DEEP!” The notion follows that a sure and easy way to get a female into bed is to profess your unique ability to tap into some place deep inside you. That somehow being, or having the appearance of being prophetic and worldly in your pursuit of pleasure will most always guarantee you success.
Larry Gallagher accomplishes what attempted in the beginning. Can I Go Now?, is an effortless block of music, demonstrating his ability to cover many complicated themes and messages with the use of humor and sarcasm. Many listeners may look deeper into the meanings of his songs, while others may be satisfied with the fun lyrics and simple guitar melodies dominating each track. In the end though, you are left with a feeling of satisfaction for gaining some insight into one of the more obscure artists you might every listen to.
Gallagher is not one to take himself very seriously though, evident from the titles he chose for the songs off this album. Each song title accurately reflects exactly what he is about to sing about. The opening track, ‘TV is Your Friend,’ covers the concept that our society is weirdly obsessed with the television. He is mostly accurate given that those who lack friends can always look to a television for some sort of twisted companionship. Likewise in the song, ‘Try Not to Think About Bugs,’ Gallagher sings all about trying not to think about bugs. While there is a bigger message to all of his songs, on the surface each track becomes very predictable once you read the title is. After listening through this album one time, it really irritated me how obvious each track was in relation to the title because I couldn’t get over how uncomplicated his music seemed. Upon reading further into Gallagher’s background though, the combinations of instruments and song selection began to show through.
Tracks feature mainly the guitar and piano, and most contain variations of bass, organ, horns, and a Wurlitzer. If you are someone who really enjoys a heavy bass or drum beat in his or her music, this may not be the album for you. Larry Gallagher’s influence is California, or what I would coin ‘surfer rock,’ His sound is laid back and effortless, similar to the artist Mason Jennings. Choruses are repeated frequently and almost every track is around three minutes in length, give or take. According to his website, Gallagher has spent much of his life wandering between vocations, even joining a Buddhist Monastery at one point in his life. Can I Go Now?, definitely is evidence of this vagabond lifestyle due to each track’s ability to cover miscellaneous life topics in such a straightforward manner. From ‘Me and William Shakespeare,’ a song about what Gallagher might say to Shakespeare if he ever got the chance to drink a few beers with him; to ‘I’m Sorry for What My People Did to Your People,’ an honest attempt at remorse for what I see as a direct correlation to the genocide of Native Americans prior to and during the settlement of America. What was refreshing after listening for a while was that his songs were not all about women, or falling in love. There is a time and place for these kinds of ballads, including tracks five and ten, but it was nice to hear him not go over the top into this expected theme.
Running just around 45 minutes in length, Can I Go Now?, is straightforward, yet packs a lot of punch. Gallagher tackles tough subjects like existentialism in the track, ‘My God is Better than your God,’ and the tried and true concept that as generations go by, the youth only become more promiscuous as explained, ‘Horny Teen Sluts.’ By far the most entertaining song on this album is, ‘I’m Deep.’ In this song, Gallagher’s sarcasm bleeds through so transparently I couldn’t help but laugh throughout the whole song when I hear lyrics like, “No hope, no help, I’m free of wealth how can you control yourself? I’M DEEP!” The notion follows that a sure and easy way to get a female into bed is to profess your unique ability to tap into some place deep inside you. That somehow being, or having the appearance of being prophetic and worldly in your pursuit of pleasure will most always guarantee you success.
Larry Gallagher accomplishes what attempted in the beginning. Can I Go Now?, is an effortless block of music, demonstrating his ability to cover many complicated themes and messages with the use of humor and sarcasm. Many listeners may look deeper into the meanings of his songs, while others may be satisfied with the fun lyrics and simple guitar melodies dominating each track. In the end though, you are left with a feeling of satisfaction for gaining some insight into one of the more obscure artists you might every listen to.
Monday, March 2, 2009
PhotoDimensional
The Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago was the first ‘photo’ museum I had ever visit. Photography is something that I had definitely taken for granted. Digital photography and the fact that almost every cell phone these days is equipped with a camera has made this kind of art lost in my mind. It was refreshing to see the PhotoDimensional exhibit with these somewhat low expectations going in because I was pleasantly surprised after I left. This exhibit featured various artists presenting their idea of what happens when photography tries to break out of its natural 2’D realm, and into the 3-D. The works ranged from sculpture, video, photography, paintings, and incorporations of both photos and paintings.
One thing I noticed from the start was just how easily ‘space’ can be manipulated through the use of combining painting with photography. One such artist, David Ireland, worked with seascapes taken around where else? Ireland. In one of his works, Green rectangle over Skellig. Ireland takes the image of a desolate island made of rock, looking lonely in the ocean all by itself; and juxtaposes it against a solid green block of color, more or less dividing the photo into three parts. Two parts rock, one part green. This concept really messed with my perception because the solid green stood out so vividly against the black and white photo. My mind could not concentrate on which area to look at first, or which one was truly in the fore, or background. Similarly, Ireland’s other photo, Blood Dots and Rain over Ireland, was out of focus, and portrayed a rainy day in the ocean. On top of this photo, he pained large red blobs of color that force you to reconsider what you were looking at in the first place. Of all the works I saw, Ireland’s art seemed the most simple, but also stayed with me the longest.
Moving through the exhibit, I noticed the myriad of photos and sculptures were placed very far apart. It came to me that they were set up like this because photography needs to be seen by itself, and without distraction. I liked being able to look at the works uninterrupted and without other art distorting my frame of reference.
One piece, La Ronde, by Bettina Hoffmann was very disorienting. She took the concept of a still photograph, and added the art of multimedia. Her DVD concentrated on the idea of what would happen if you entered the scene of a photo mid snap, and walked around. The video rotated between scenes around a kitchen table, inside a bedroom, and living room. The result is mesmerizing, and very surreal because you seem to be repeating the moment this photo was taken over and over while you are frozen in time and space. I still don’t know how they got the subjects to stand so still throughout the whole ordeal, or how the camera swiveled around the photo so effortlessly.
One other artist that really thought captured the whole concept of ‘photodimensions’ was that of Florian Slotawa. I thought these photos were actually funny. His work, titled, Hotelarbeiten, consists of several pieces of furniture from hotels, crammed into one corner or side of the room. Again this reminded me how the concept of space is pretty abstract; given that a bed, desk, lamp, couch, and chair could so easily fit on top of each other in a room where they before took up all the space.
The last artist that I really found interesting was Pello Irazu. His work titled, La Fabrica, is made up of various drawings and paintings that are overlapped, kind of like David Ireland’s. His is more of a collage though because it is hard to decipher which came first, the painting or the photo. There is so much geometry going on in his pieces, whether it comes from the boxes and chairs he has stacked, or the boxes he has drawn on top that it makes me think of grade school. The use of primary colors adds to this illusion as well.
Before I went into this exhibit, I thought the idea of combining 3D concepts with 2D photography would be very muddled and might ruin the original photos. In the end though, the PhotoDimensional exhibit was captivating and I am looking forward to checking out future exhibits here on campus at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.
One thing I noticed from the start was just how easily ‘space’ can be manipulated through the use of combining painting with photography. One such artist, David Ireland, worked with seascapes taken around where else? Ireland. In one of his works, Green rectangle over Skellig. Ireland takes the image of a desolate island made of rock, looking lonely in the ocean all by itself; and juxtaposes it against a solid green block of color, more or less dividing the photo into three parts. Two parts rock, one part green. This concept really messed with my perception because the solid green stood out so vividly against the black and white photo. My mind could not concentrate on which area to look at first, or which one was truly in the fore, or background. Similarly, Ireland’s other photo, Blood Dots and Rain over Ireland, was out of focus, and portrayed a rainy day in the ocean. On top of this photo, he pained large red blobs of color that force you to reconsider what you were looking at in the first place. Of all the works I saw, Ireland’s art seemed the most simple, but also stayed with me the longest.
Moving through the exhibit, I noticed the myriad of photos and sculptures were placed very far apart. It came to me that they were set up like this because photography needs to be seen by itself, and without distraction. I liked being able to look at the works uninterrupted and without other art distorting my frame of reference.
One piece, La Ronde, by Bettina Hoffmann was very disorienting. She took the concept of a still photograph, and added the art of multimedia. Her DVD concentrated on the idea of what would happen if you entered the scene of a photo mid snap, and walked around. The video rotated between scenes around a kitchen table, inside a bedroom, and living room. The result is mesmerizing, and very surreal because you seem to be repeating the moment this photo was taken over and over while you are frozen in time and space. I still don’t know how they got the subjects to stand so still throughout the whole ordeal, or how the camera swiveled around the photo so effortlessly.
One other artist that really thought captured the whole concept of ‘photodimensions’ was that of Florian Slotawa. I thought these photos were actually funny. His work, titled, Hotelarbeiten, consists of several pieces of furniture from hotels, crammed into one corner or side of the room. Again this reminded me how the concept of space is pretty abstract; given that a bed, desk, lamp, couch, and chair could so easily fit on top of each other in a room where they before took up all the space.
The last artist that I really found interesting was Pello Irazu. His work titled, La Fabrica, is made up of various drawings and paintings that are overlapped, kind of like David Ireland’s. His is more of a collage though because it is hard to decipher which came first, the painting or the photo. There is so much geometry going on in his pieces, whether it comes from the boxes and chairs he has stacked, or the boxes he has drawn on top that it makes me think of grade school. The use of primary colors adds to this illusion as well.
Before I went into this exhibit, I thought the idea of combining 3D concepts with 2D photography would be very muddled and might ruin the original photos. In the end though, the PhotoDimensional exhibit was captivating and I am looking forward to checking out future exhibits here on campus at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.
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