Once the weather warms up my body and psyche feel a little lighter. The blustery cold recedes, and I trade in my long winter coat for something shorter, yet just as warmer. I have an idea for the Milestone Widget, but this time will not involve a show or movie.
In the mean time a few things caught my eye…
The Armitage Philosophy
The Official Hobbit Twitter Feed has an interview with Andy Serkis (Gollum), James Nesbitt (Bofur), and of course Richard Armitage (Thorin). The actual event took place while I remained firmly planted in the real world ie. at work. I was quite surprised he agreed to do this as he doesn’t get Twitter. Seriously, he doesn’t and neither do I. I use it to publicize my posts, but I can’t do 140 character brain farts. Digression aside, I saw the usual eye-rolling types of questions.
Then someone posed this thoughtful question:
Followed another question and a word sometimes sprinkled in my conversations. Who knew someone else uses the word ‘propensity’?
They say ‘size doesn’t matter’, but in my case the size of a man’s vocabulary makes me tingle.
Dear America, Create Your Own Darn Shows!
Last week I wrote about The Almighty Johnsons, a comedy-fantasy series about four Kiwi brothers living as incarnations of Norse gods. Now I learned SyFy’s list of greenlit pilots may include an US version of the series.
Seriously?!
The news, sadly, does not surprise me. This was the same network rushing an US version of Being Human before (spoiler!) Mitchell got dusted. It took a while for the American Being Human to find its own voice, but I don’t know if an American Almighty Johnson can match the humour or the grittiness of its parent show.
I fear an American version will be like a campy escape rather than a cool exploration of what it means to be a man. (At least that’s how I look at some aspects of the show.) The track record for American translations does not look good. Remember the US version of Coupling? Steven Moffat (Dr. Who) would like to forget it too. The show ‘Episodes’ on Showtime explored what happens once a hit British/International show gets a Yankee make over.
It’s not pretty.
Plus this is SyFy here. Once this channel was home to Battlestar Gallatica. Now it’s tasteless reality shows. No wonder people are cutting their cords in favour of Netflix, or seeking out international fare online. Originality on North American shows is not dead. It’s just on life support.
And Speaking of Brits…
*Spoiler* Morgan from Walking Dead season one made an appearance! Oh look, he’s completely cracked up. The cracking up was nothing compared to viewers shock at discovering…drum roll please…Lennie James is yet another pesky Brit.
The Americans must be scratching their heads. What do they have that’s sucking up the roles from American actors, perhaps a few Canadians.
It’s called training.
Let’s take a roll call:
Lennie James-Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Andrew Lincoln-Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Gemma Arterton-Royal-Academy of Dramatic Art
Richard Armitage-London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Daniel Craig-Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Stephen Moyer-London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
David Harewood-Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Daniel Day Lewis-Bristol Old Vic School
Of course there’s always exceptions, and schooling does not always equal talent. I think that’s enough geeking for now.
Unpaused Life 