Category Archives: Bad TV

Netflix pic of the week: Sherlock (BBC)

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I have spent a lot of time indoors in the last 6 months, so I have had time to catch up on a lot of good (and bad) TV.  I recently purchased a new Apple TV and I have to say that I am completely and utterly addicted to it.  That is another post altogether.

One of the shows that I have been watching on Netflix is Sherlock by the BBC based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories.  I began watching Elementary with Lucy Liu and then I remembered that I had seen Sherlock at my parents house and decided to watch that instead.  I have no regrets.  Sherlock is filmed in the high-quality way that you expect from a BBC show.  Beautiful scenes of London that make my heart ache for my former home.  The storyline and dialogue is simply intriguing.  The actors,  Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor John Watson, are a perfect match in this modern take on Detective Holmes.  As with most British television, it manages to be smart and darkly humorous.

Thus far, I have made it through season 1.  There are only 3 episodes in each of the two seasons and they are, oddly, about an hour and a half long each.  They are an action-packed psychological drama that keeps you glued to it the entire time.  You can think of it as a cross between Luther, House MD and Dexter.

Go and watch it.  Now.

Born With It

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I saw that a former colleague of mine who lives in Japan had sponsored this project on Indiegogo, so I decided to take a look.  ’Born With It‘ is a short film about an African-Japanese boy who discovers for the first time that he is different from everyone else.  The film will represent the director/writer, Emmanuel’s, NYU thesis film for the purpose of him receiving his Masters in Fine Arts degree.

I found the subject of this story to be very touching and close to my heart.  I grew up in rural California and was the only partially Japanese kid in my school (apart from my brother).  I never felt that I was different than anyone else.  In fact, I always thought of myself as “white”.  However, there were times in my life where people would make hateful and hurtful comments about my Japanese heritage.  Most of the time they got the race wrong.  For example, Chinese (or Chinky) was a big hit with people making fun whilst doing slanty eyes.  It was times like these that I realized I was kind of different.  This never hindered me, I was always very proud of my Japanese background and people.

As I have grown older I have embraced the Japanese side of my background far more than the “white” side.  Perhaps this comes down to a deep respect for Japanese culture and a fond remembrance of  my Grandma and Grandpa Yamakawa.

It also seems to me that being “white” in America is easy.  You have all the standard traditions like Christmas and Thanksgiving; whereas being Japanese is far more mysterious and beautiful to me with traditions that I would like to pass on to my children like dancing obon and eating mochi for New Years.

I digress.  I found this subject interesting and worthy of supporting.  I can’t wait to see the finished product and wish them the best in their fundraising goals.

Born With It – Indiegogo Campaign from Emmanuel Osei on Vimeo.

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Has Mad Men lost its edge?

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I was excited to watch the 2 hour Mad Men season premier last night. So excited that we had a group of equally excited folks over to have a viewing party…

And did it live up to expectations?

I would have to give that a resounding NOPE.

It was the same Mad Men style. The same Mad Men characters. Doing the same Mad Men things but in a slightly more modern, start of the 60s world. Now that Don is once again tied down to the evil secretary turned copywriter Megan he is a tad big boring and lifeless. Speaking of Megan. Um, where do we begin. Her character is horrible. Boring old whiney Megan and her rat-faced French singing. Sigh. Pete was up to his same old pompus actions. Joanie and her giant tits graced us with their presence, but even that failed to get anyone excited. Basically it was like a 2 hour borefest with no plot. Literally the most exciting thing was the giant baby butt shot with testicles. Not sure why someone thought that would make a good scene opener…

And we miss Betty Draper. That vampish cigarette smoker, child slapping bitch.

I’m not sure if the plot for Mad Men can be saved. There is only so much intrigue that a show can have about advertising and it seems that it may have run its course already.